Tony Dodero -- From the Newsroom

I remember the phone call I got about a year ago.

It was from a local World War II veteran who was shocked to open up

his copy of the Daily Pilot and see a full-page ad with the words “Long

May it Wave” and a picture of a man sitting next to what looked to him

like the Japanese rising sun battle flag.

He had a hard time believing his local paper would do such a thing,

and so did I. So I opened up the paper and looked at the offending ad. To

my great relief, the ad did not feature a Japanese flag but a lifeguard

blackball flag, which in black and white looked nearly the same as the

one that taunted World War II soldiers some 60 years ago.

After I cleared up the matter, it dawned on me what a powerful and

searing image something like a flag can conjure up.

Fast forward to today. I can’t remember a time when the image of the

American flag meant so much to me and those around me.

Seeing the stars and stripes flying so proudly on street corners and

on cars after the shocking terror of Sept. 11 has been both a comforting

and emotional sight for many of us.

I remember a week and a half after the attacks, I was driving down the

road listening to the kickoff of a college football game and the singing

of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

And when the song hit the words, “the bombs bursting in air, gave

proof through the night that our flag was still there,” the crowd on the

radio burst into applause and howls.

I burst into tears.

The visual image of our flag flying strong after the horrible image of

the World Trade Center disaster was more than I could take.

Which brings me to my point.

I have a hard time understanding the arguments now of people who

wonder aloud why some are offended by the Confederate flag that was used

as a prop by the Newport Harbor High School band at football games this

year.

It’s a just a flag, they argue, a piece of history. What’s the big

deal?

Well, it is a big deal.

Just as the American flag is not just a flag or just a piece of

history, neither is the Confederate flag.

The flag, to many, represents a symbol of hatred. A symbol of a

division.

It is the remnants of a time when a whole segment of our country would

rather secede from the union, go to battle and fight brother against

brother until the death, than end the evil and torturous practice of

slavery.

That’s a powerful message and the Confederate flag is a reminder of

that.

But the Japanese rising sun and the Confederate flag aren’t the only

flags that offer painful reminders to us of painful times.

In early 1999, many may remember the protests that raged in

Westminster when a video store owner decided to hang in his shop a

Vietnamese flag and a picture of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the

Vietnamese Communists.

The anger swelled for days and many took issue with the symbol of the

Vietnamese flag, which they said represented the oppression of the regime

that now controls their homeland.

In fact, the protesters were joined by such notables as Dist. Atty.

Tony Rauckaukas, GOP county party Chairman Tom Fuentes and soon-to-be

Costa Mesa Assemblyman Ken Maddox, who said:

“While the 1st Amendment may defend this man’s right to display these

hateful symbols of tyranny, it does not change the fact that it is

wrong.”

I hope Maddox and the others feel the same about the tyranny that the

Confederate flag represents.

To be sure, there is no comparison with the actions of that video

store owner and that of the Newport Harbor band.

The band’s intention was to supply a history lesson and they used the

stars and bars for effect, not a political message.

Maybe in an inadvertent way, they provided more powerful discussion

and debate than they ever intended. For that, we may even owe them

thanks.

Still, instead of arguing that point, many have defended the very use

of the flag itself. One letter writer even noted that the “Yankee flag,”

as she put it, was just as offensive to those in the South as the

Confederate flag is to those in the North.

But if Sept. 11 taught us anything, it is that our flag represents so

much more than just our country. It represents freedom, civility, liberty

and a land where many have united as one.

It should be more clear to us than ever that putting the Confederate

flag and all it symbolizes, or any other flag of tyranny and injustice,

on the same pedestal as the American flag is a disservice to all Old

Glory represents.

If believing that is political correctness at its worst, I guess I’m

guilty as charged.

***

Oh those sneaky Greenlight folks.

As many of you know, the Daily Pilot editorialized in favor of Measure

G, the ballot box initiative that would have given the OK to the

expansion of the Koll Center on the corner of Jamboree Road and MacArthur

Boulevard.

Our stance was a rather unpopular one with those who backed

Greenlight, the slow-growth measure passed a year ago this month.

Still, however unpopular it was, we stood for what we thought was

right.

Those backing the Koll expansion capitalized on our position and power

over the citizenry (yeah right) and plastered the town with bold campaign

signs heralding our support for Measure G.

So imagine our glee Wednesday morning, the day after Measure G took a

solid trouncing in the polls, to find someone had stuck one of those very

signs on the Daily Pilot’s front lawn.

Talk about rubbing it in our face.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage, please send messages

either via e-mail to tony.dodero@latimes.com or by phone at 949-574-4258.