05/28/10

From EastBayRI.com              

'Tea Party' flag rankles some

Flag, one of nation's oldest, causes stir after being raised over Town Common


By Ted Hayes

WARREN — The Warren Fire Department drew fire Friday morning when members raised one of the nation’s oldest — but these days, controversial — flags from one of three flagpoles they maintain at the Warren Town Common.

Their flying of the Gadsden Flag, a Revolutionary War-era flag depicting a coiled rattlesnake with the slogan “Don’t Tread On Me” below it, angered some residents because though it was originally created to protest the British government prior to and during the American Revolution, it has become a symbol to some of the American Tea Party movement. That conservative movement questions many of the policies, particularly fiscal, of the federal government.

The flag was raised alongside the state and U.S. flags early Friday morning. By 10:30 a.m., Warren Fire Chief Al Galinelli had received a call about it from the town manager. By the afternoon, it was taken down.

“At first I thought it was a joke,” said the chief. “The flag was put up because it’s a flag from the revolution and a lot of Warren guys fought in the revolution. It was only put up to memorialize them. Flying the flag does not mean we’re supporting any political party or movement.”

The department has control over what flags it raises at the common, and when. Usually, the POW/MIA flag flies on the third pole along side the state and U.S. flags. But with the return of warm weather and the impending Memorial Day and Fireman’s Memorial parades, crews decided to fly them again and thought a good change of pace would be to fly the Gadsden flag, the chief said.

“It was only done for history’s sake. If people got offended I apologize. I just hope the American flag isn’t offending anyone, because that’s one flag I’ll never take down.”

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This news article drew my attention because I grew up in neighboring Massachusetts, once home to patriotic Americans and cradle of the first American Revolution, now occupied by the socialists.

Just a few (of many) highlights of Rhode Island history (these came from Wikipedia):

In 1636, Roger Williams, after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay, on land granted to him by the Narragansett tribe. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom. Detractors of the idea of liberty of conscience sometimes referred to it as "Rogue's Island".

Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. It was also the last colony of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790 once assurances were made that a Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution.

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The Gadsden Flag has always served as a warning to enemies that we will strike if provoked. Today we have an enemy who does not believe or pretends that he can not read. Our rights have been trod upon repeatedly, we have been provoked and abused beyond all forbearance. It is time to strike and deliver burning venom into the veins of the fools who tread on us.