This letter is being written in reply to the letter from Stephanie Riker that appeared in your paper on Aug. 10. I am one of those people that she addressed her closing paragraph to; however, the flag that I believe she is attacking is the Confederate Battle Flag (known as “The Southern Cross” which has been “adopted” by the Ku Klux Klan and other “racist” groups). The flag I chose to display with honor is the “Stars and Bars” which made its appearance at the Battle of Manassas (Bull Run).

As a southerner both by birth and lineage, I am not a racist and am proud of the ideals that the southern states were fighting for; that of state’s rights which was the simple “premise” that because the “states” had formed the “union,” they also had the right to leave or dissolve it. The whole “issue” of slavery was a side “issue” that became caught up in the events of time as the war progressed.

So, Ms. Riker, while I agree that there are people from all parts of the union who used the Southern Cross with all its racist contexts, I respectfully request on behalf of non-racist southerners that you rescind your argument. Richard A. Watson Jr. Orono