In state — vestiges of Confederacy

The Confederate flag is more than a rectangular piece of fabric. Both sides of a growing debate can agree on that.

But in the wake of a shooting this month that left nine churchgoers dead in Charleston, S.C., people disagree on what the flag means and whether it should be displayed on public property.

The symbolism of the flag is clear, said Dale Charles, president of the Arkansas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"I don't think suddenly it's a big deal. It's always been a big deal. It took nine people to lose their lives in a black church for it to come to light," Charles said. "This flag came about because of the war between the North and South. The South wanted to keep the slaves. We know what conditions the slaves were under."

"How do you want to be associated with that?"

But Ron Kelley, communications officer for the Arkansas Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he doesn't want to be linked to anyone's oppression. He said he's proud that the United States is full of different cultures with different histories -- including his own.

"There are some moments in American history that I'm not proud of. There are moments that no one's proud of," he said. "Just like the American flag, it's something more than a piece of cloth. To some it's their heritage, and heritage runs really deep."

"That boy that killed those people is an absolute lunatic, and he doesn't represent anything whatsoever that the [Confederate] flag stands for."

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, who is accused in the Charleston killings, was seen posing with the Confederate flag in some pictures. He also wore a jacket with two other flags -- one from apartheid-era South Africa and the other from white-ruled Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) -- in a Facebook profile picture.

South Carolina is debating removing the Confederate battle flag from a monument on its Statehouse grounds. Alabama's governor ordered the flag there -- at the foot of the Confederate memorial on the state Capitol grounds -- removed Wednesday.

Arkansas has three monuments at its state Capitol that recognize the Confederacy and its defenders. Also, by law, the state recognizes Gen. Robert E. Lee's Birthday each January and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis' birthday each June.

The Confederate battle flag doesn't fly on the Arkansas Capitol grounds, but state law sets aside one day to honor the banner, and a monument on the grounds specifically mentions the flag.

"Our furled banner wreathed with glory and though conquered we adore it," the Monument to Confederate Soldiers reads. "Weep for those who fell before it. Pardon those who trailed and tore it."

The monument depicts a soldier holding the Confederate flag with an angel overhead.

The Capitol also features the Confederate War Prisoners Memorial and the Monument to Confederate Women.

In Arkansas Code, Confederate Flag Day is the Saturday before Easter. The code doesn't specify how to celebrate the day, but heritage groups have typically used it to honor Civil War soldiers.

"We will put Confederate flags on all of the graves of Confederate soldiers," Diane Hall, a member of the Cleburne Memorial Chapter 1757 of the Arkansas Division of United Daughters of the Confederacy, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2014. "We will also put the U.S. flag on Union graves."

In 1957 -- the year of the Central High School desegregation crisis in Little Rock -- Gov. Orval Faubus passed legislation designating the Saturday before Easter as Confederate Flag Day.

That legislation made it a misdemeanor to use the Confederate flag "in connection with any advertisement of any commercial enterprise, or in any manner for any purpose except to honor the Confederate States of America." (The criminal provisions were removed in 2005.)

Today's Gov. Asa Hutchinson opposes Confederate Flag Day, his spokesman, J.R. Davis, said Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Hutchinson said the Confederate flag "should not be a symbol of anything today because our one symbol that unifies us is the American flag and our state flag."

The Arkansas state flag has four blue stars -- one of which refers to the Confederate States of America. Arkansas seceded from the United States of America on May 6, 1861.

The flag's bottom three stars "typify the three nations of Spain, France and the United States to which the State successively belongs," a 1924 House concurrent resolution states. "The star above Arkansas is to commemorate the Confederacy."

Last week, online commentators who oppose the Democratic Party highlighted the blue star and its symbolism in criticizing former Democratic U.S. President Bill Clinton. As governor, Clinton signed legislation that officially codified the Arkansas flag design that was called for in the 1924 resolution.

Hutchinson said symbols of the Confederacy belong in a historical context.

"I don't see this [blue star for the Confederacy] as a big issue in Arkansas because you would have to really look really finely to understand any connection between our current flag and the historical references there -- whether it's France or whether it is the one star that is symbolic of when we were under the Confederacy," he said.

On the Capitol's grounds -- facing the governor's office window -- stands Testament, a sculpture of the Little Rock Nine.

"If we have honestly acknowledged our painful but shared past, then we can have reconciliation," said Elizabeth Eckford, one of those nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Her words -- enshrined on a plaque -- are just 100 steps from the Confederate Soldiers Memorial.