Credit: Photo via Google Maps

Credit: Photo via Google Maps

While a nationwide movement over racism and inequality erupted over the weekend, what is arguably Tampa’s biggest symbol of racism and inequality has been taken down. 

One of the nation’s largest Confederate battle flags, which is visible from I-75 and located at the privately-owned Confederate Memorial Park at 10418 US Hwy. 92, was removed over the weekend over fears that it may be damaged by protesters. 

“We do not want to be a target,” Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter head David McCallister told local news channel WTSP. “We do not want to provide any incentive for people to break the law. We are behind law enforcement and first responders. We deplore the destruction of private and public property.”

The giant, billowing, Civil War participation trophy has been vandalized before. After the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, which attracted scores of white supremacists and resulted in the murder of protester Heather Heyer, the memorial was splashed with red paint. 

On Sunday, Twitter users noticed that the flag was down. 


Another tweet shows six squad cars with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office stationed at the empty park. 


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This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2020.

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...