Confederate flag on crane causes stir in downtown Asheville
ASHEVILLE – A tall construction crane downtown brought complaints Monday after onlookers noticed it was flying the Confederate battle flag.
People working in a nearby office building said they've been following the daily construction of a Marriott hotel at the corner of College Street and Broadway when they noticed something strange and different.
In the past week or so, a United States flag had been flying on the crane. But Monday on top of the equipment that has become a temporary part of the city skyline, the battle flag was flying, said Jason Holland, one of the people who noticed the change.
"I just happened to look at it and said, 'That's not right,'" Holland said.
The flag became a flashpoint following a mass shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina, church by a racially motivated gunman who adopted the flag as his own symbol. In a striking gesture, South Carolina leaders removed the flag from the capitol grounds. Meanwhile, debate has spread around the country as to how to treat the banner that is intertwined with slavery, states' rights and the country's bloodiest conflict.
When Holland saw the flag on the crane, he sent out a message on Twitter to Marriott, the city and two City Council members asking if they knew about it.
He also called the crane's operator Yates Construction company. Holland said he ended up speaking with several people at the Mississippi-based company.
"I told them this is a pretty progressive community and that having the highest flag flown in Asheville being the Confederate flag is going to cause some attention."
After sending the company photos of the flag, he said a worker climbed up and pulled down the banner. In its place, he put back the U.S. flag. Onlookers took a video of the flag swap.
Yates representatives could not be reached for comment Monday. Marriott responded to a message sent to the company on Twitter, saying, "We have forwarded this to the appropriate team and have been alerted the flag has been taken down."
The Marriott-branded "AC Hotel" is being built on the site of a former privately-owned parking garage. Foundation work is underway on the $20 million project near the BB&T Building. The 132-room lodging facility will have an address of 10 Broadway and is planned for nine stories. Opening is scheduled for summer 2016.
Holland said he went to the trouble of calling the company because he thought the Confederate flag wasn't an appropriate symbol for such a prominent place.
"I'm from the South. I have relatives who fought in the Civil War. And we're not fighting in the Civil War any more," he said.
While South Carolina removed the flag last month, North Carolina legislators took a different direction. The General Assembly passed a law banning state or local authorities from removing "objects of remembrance" — including Confederate monuments — from public property without state legislative action.
Asheville itself is occasionally at the center of the debate thanks to a controversial flag waver. Former local NAACP head H.K. Edgerton can be seen wearing a Confederate uniform and carrying the battle flag. Edgerton, an African-American, says his display is a promotion of Southern heritage.