Hi George,

I thought you may be interested to know that the Confederate Flag flying above Harris St is visible to more than the residents and business of the area; it is also less than a block away from the offices of the N.A.A.C.P., the Virginia Organizing Project, and the Piedmont Housing Association of Residents (PHAR). Good for irony, bad for the neighborhood that has to look at it every morning.

On that note, have you ever noticed that Charlottesville's largest bus stop (Market St, by the Charlottesville Downtown Mall) is directly across Lee Park and it's statued namesake*? I used to live on Market and it was always a pain to see in the morning while I waited on Charlottesville Transit Service with the poorer of Charlottesville's residents, who are predominantly African-American.

I think our energy is better spent on making housing affordable and realizing a living wage though.

Just a few thoughts ...

Andrew Holden (electronic mail, August 31, 2001).

*Editor's Note: "Virginia began naming days after its Confederate heroes in 1889, more than two decades after the Civil War ended, when the legislature established Robert E. Lee Day on his birthday, Jan. 19. Jackson, whose birthday was Jan. 21, was added to Lee's day in 1904.

In 1978, the state decided that [Martin Luther] King, who was born Jan. 15, would have New Year's Day named in his honor. Then in 1984, two years before Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a national holiday, Virginia legislators stiched the three men's names together on a single day on which they were to be remembered and revered as 'defenders of causes.'

Last January, in his State of the Commonwealth speech, Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R) proposed separate Lee-Jackson and King holidays. The General Assembly ratified his plan during last year's session" (Carol Morello, The Washington Post, January 15, 2001).

For a significant number of Virginians, symbols matter.