The Alabama flag – along with banners from the other states – has been removed from a Capitol Hill tunnel. In the place of the flags are enlarged images of each state’s commemorative quarters.
mages of each state’s commemorative quarter have replaced state flags in the tunnel connecting a House office building and the US Capitol. (Contributed photo/Rep. Candice Miller)
The change isn’t just routine redecorating, however. Instead, the switch comes after months of controversy over flags that use Confederate imagery.
The walls of the underground subway tunnel used by Congress and staffers to travel between the Capitol and the Rayburn House Office Building are now adorned with images and information on each state’s quarter. The switch was made during a recent construction project on the heavily traveled tunnel.
“The new display installed in the tunnel leading into the U.S. Capitol Building is one that celebrates each corner of our nation,” said Candice Miller, R-Mich, chairman of the Committee on House Administration. “It is truly a representative display that I hope will be a reminder of all the values that unite us as Americans for years to come.”
Miller announced earlier this year the flags would be removed due to concerns about Confederate references and designs on some of the banners. In all, five state flags, including Alabama’s, make use of some form of Confederate imagery.
Controversy over the Confederate flag moved to the forefront in 2015 when a white gunman allegedly shot nine people in a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. Images released after the incident showed the shooter, Dylann Roof, posing with the Confederate flag.
The massacre led several states, including Alabama, to remove the Confederate flag from state properties.
Capitol Hill flag critics
Critics of the Capitol Hill flags most often pointed to Mississippi’s flag, which uses an image of the Confederate battle flag – a blue St. Andrew’s Cross adorned with white stars on a red field.
Mississippi’s only Democratic Congressman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, called on Congress to remove all items with Confederate flag imagery, including his own state’s flag, from any federal property.
Miller agreed, but only to the extent that the flags be removed from the common areas.
“I am well aware of how many Americans negatively view the Confederate flag, and, personally, I am very sympathetic to these views. However, I also believe that it is not the business of the federal government to dictate what flag each state flies,” Miller said.
The state flags won’t disappear entirely. It is common practice for members of Congress to display their state flags alongside the American flag outside their offices.
Alabama & Mississippi state quarters
Issued in 2003, the Alabama quarter bears the image of Helen Keller, a Tuscumbia-born speaker, author and humanitarian. The quarter also features representations of the state tree, the longleaf pine, and magnolia blossoms alongside the text “Spirit of Courage.” The coin is the only U.S. currency to include braille in recognition of Keller, who was blind and deaf.
Mississippi’s state quarter contains only images of magnolias with the words “The Magnolia State.”
–al.com
