Who? Marion D. Lambert
Sphere of influence: Before June 3, only a few neighbors and natural food stores knew the 60-year-old beekeeper and South Tampa resident. But after the Sons of Confederate Veterans member announced his intention to fly a huge Confederate flag at the junction of I-4 and I-75, it seems everyone has an opinion about him. He's attracted the support of fellow Confederate flag devotees and the ire of the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners, the local NAACP chapter and some nearby business owners. The controversy has alreaady made national news. For better or worse, Lambert's flag, which is nearly the size of a semitruck, will influence how the rest of the state and nation view the Tampa Bay area.
How he makes a difference: Hillsborough County's first experiences with Lambert came in 1994 when he fought county commissioners over their decision to remove the Confederate flag from the county seal. In 2001, after then-governor Jeb Bush removed the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds, Lambert and other Sons of Confederate Veterans initiated their Flags Across Florida project, placing two large Confederate flags in public view over White Springs and Havana in north Florida. In 2004, Lambert purchased a nearly quarter-acre plot of land at the junction of I-4 and I-75 for $7,000 with the idea of putting another flag there. He estimates this flag — which measures 20 by 30 feet on top of a 139-foot poll — will go up permanently in July.
CL: Give me the God's honest truth of what will be served by flying this huge Confederate flag?
Lambert: By flying this flag, we're approaching the closed mind and the open mind — whatever mind drives down that interstate. … Is he or she going to drive in and check it out and determine what this is? Well, if he or she does, they'll get the picture on the ground, which is the important picture. If they don't, if they just drive on by, it's a lost cause. If the closed mind stays closed, then they lose and we lose, because our object, our goal, our aim has gone amiss. We haven't gained anything. … The rationale here is simply this flag has to be determined by the politicos, the chambers of commerce, the economic development committees, all of these people that have an interest in the economic growth and development and the profit of this community. They have to determine if this is a hate symbol or a heritage symbol. Now that's the question we have been unable, for the last 20 years, to bring to the forefront of the public debate.
Do you honestly think they will embrace it?
Here are their options. … They can either accept [the flag] as a hate-filled symbol or a heritage symbol. It's a tough option. … When I go before the County Commission again, I'm going to present them their options, but I'm going to give them a caveat along with that. If they say, "We gotta live with the flag, let's embrace the heritage symbol," we will work with them. We will work with them every way, shape and form. I will work with them to develop sensitivity training, diversity training, about the flag and what it truly represents. This can be — if they want to be — a tourist attraction for Hillsborough County and being part of Dixie. I don't care if everybody here is from New Jersey, from Pennsylvania, from places north. … The indigenous Southern people are here and have not been recognized for 20 years and now we're dab-burn gonna be recognized and we're going to be embraced or there's gonna be the dickens to pay for it.
Aren't you basically blackmailing the people who don't want the flag here into accepting this as a symbol of heritage?
Yeah. Yeah. We've been ostracized, marginalized, put off the table for so long. Is it blackmail? I wouldn't use the word "blackmail." You can use the word if you want to, but I would use the word "bargaining chip." We've never bargained with [the county commissioners] before. We never had anything they wanted. But hear me clearly on this: The flag is not coming down either way. Either they accept the flag one way or accept the flag another way. The flag is going up.
History lesson aside, in the present day, the Confederate flag is used by hate groups. That's a fact.
Let me ask you this — what flag is used more than the Confederate flag? The United States flag. More United States flags were flown by Ku Kluxers, by Neo-Nazis and carried by them all the time. But that symbol hasn't been given to them, whereas society has given this symbol to those groups, even though there is a preponderance of people who say it's not that. … I'll tell you the truth: I've never seen one KKK-er in my life. Ever. I've never seen one neo-Nazi demonstrate in anything we've done in 20 years. I don't know where they are. What is this — a phantom? I mean, I know they exist. I know they're out there somewhere. But it's not a major problem for us at all. I don't care what the Southern Poverty Law Center says.
Is there anything the County Commission or the residents of Tampa can do to convince you not to fly the flag?
No! The flag is going to be flown. As long as I have breath in my body and am able to function and articulate. And even if I'm gone, it doesn't make a difference, the flag is going up. The Southern community is just enamored with this project.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2008.