Wait, Alabama State Troopers have the Confederate flag on their uniforms?

Vann R Newkirk II

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Thursday December 17, 2015 · 9:59 AM PST

2015/12/17 · 09:59

LOS ANGELES - SEPTEMBER 2: Head Coach Tommy Tuberville (orange cap, center) of the Auburn Tigers is escorted off the field after pregame warmups by an Alabama State Trooper and a Los Angeles Police Officer for their game versus the USC Trojans on Septemb — State Troopers' shoulder patches display a seal with the Confederate Flag

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Well, there’s something to be said about being upfront, at least.

Alabama was one of the Southern states to face controversy around its use of the Confederate Battle Flag on government property following June’s horrific massacre in which Dylann Roof gunned down and killed nine black congregants in Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina. Shortly after, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued an order to remove four flags from the state Capitol in Montgomery. He was later sued for this decision, although the flag has not reappeared over the Capitol.

However, the rebel flag has proven stubbornly difficult to remove from public spaces in Alabama. Local NAACP chapters have protested the use of the flag in patches on both state troopers’ uniforms and their vehicles. Now state lawmakers are joining the calls to remove the patches. Birmingham ABC affiliate ABC 33/40 reports:

A state representative issued a new call Wednesday to stop the use of the confederate flag in Alabama.

Rep. Alvin Holmes, (D-Montgomery) called on Gov. Robert Bentley to issue an executive order removing the flag from the patches on state trooper uniforms. In a letter to Bentley, dated December 15th, Holmes said the confederate flag represents slavery and oppression.

Turns out that the patch is actually a derivative of the Coat of Arms of Alabama (see below), which still proudly displays the flag. Also, the Coat of Arms of Alabama and the Battle Flag both fly on Gov. Bentley’s very own flag, the only state governors’ flag to have such a symbol on it (the flag had an eagle in place of the coat of arms until 1939.

Coat_of_arms_of_Alabama_(seal).svg.png — The Coat of Arms of Alabama

1024px-Standard_of_the_Governor_of_Alabama.svg.png — The Alabama Governor’s Flag

Some have suggested replacing the Confederate Flag (known properly as the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, one of the numerous battle flags of various Confederate divisions) with the Alabama state flag, but there is just one small catch: the Alabama state flag is also designed after a Confederate Battle Flag, this one being the flag of Alabama’s 60th Infantry Regiment. Notice the similarities in those St. Andrew’s Crosses?

Granted, the Alabama state flag does not share the same post-Civil War status as an icon of outright racial enmity as its Virginian cousin which was adopted by neo-Confederates and racist groups across the South, however both are part of the same tricky tradition of the Lost Cause in the South. And this small news item illustrates just how difficult it is to truly address racism and the legacy of the Civil War.

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Wait, Alabama State Troopers have the Confederate flag on their uniforms?

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