Harley backpedals, lefts Confederate flag ban

Milwaukee Journal, The, Jan 1, 1995 by JOHN FAUBER

Under pressure from Southerners, Harley-Davidson Inc. has backed off from a recently enacted policy barring the Confederate flag from products it licenses.

A Harley executive, Anne Tynion, recently wrote to a conservative South Carolina group that has been trying to preserve the flag, saying the company "may have moved too hastily" in barring the flag from its products.

Tynion, vice president of marketing for the Milwaukee motorcycle maker, said in an interview last week that Harley now was allowing dealers to sell Harley T-shirts that incorporate the Confederate flag.

"In the South, the flag for the majority of people is a symbol of Southern pride and heritage," Tynion said.

Tynion said that in barring the flag from its products, Harley was "reacting to a very small minority."

Asked whether only a small minority of African-Americans was opposed to the use of the flag, she said, "I really don't know." Flag Means Hatred to Some

In July 1994, Harley decided not to allow the use of the Confederate flag on its many licensed products after receiving several complaints, including one from James Yarbrough, a Janesville business consultant and former equal opportunity coordinator for the City of Beloit.

Yarbrough, a black man who grew up in the South and has been active in civil rights causes, said the flag was a symbol of hate, fear and intolerance.

"I'm very unhappy with it," Yarbrough said last week when told of Harley's reversal. "It shows a lack of corporate responsibility on their part."

Yarbrough acknowledged that many white people in the South viewed the flag with pride. But, he added, "there are groups who use it for just the opposite reason." Many use it as a rallying symbol for feelings of hatred toward Northerners and bigotry toward blacks, he said.

"I get the same feeling looking at the Confederate flag that I get from looking at the swastika," he said. `Overtones of Slavery'

Walter Brame, president of the Milwaukee Urban League, said Harley's decision was regrettable.

"The African-American community for the most part resents the Confederate flag," he said. "For some, it carries the overtones of slavery."

Brame, who grew up in North Carolina, said the Confederate flag largely had been ignored in the South until the birth of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s. It then was resurrected by staunch segregationists, he said.

"My druthers would be not to see it," he said. Petition Protested Decision

A group called the Council of Conservative Citizens circulated a petition in South Carolina protesting Harley's decision to bar the Confederate flag. In South Carolina, the flying of the flag over the Statehouse in Columbia has been a contentious issue.

The Harley petition read: "The removal of the historical flag is not only an attempt to erase a valuable part of our history, but a disgrace to those who lost their lives fighting for the independence and freedom as we know today."

William Carter, of Saluda, S.C., state chairman of the Council of Conservative Citizens, said his group had held several flag preservation rallies in the past year and many of those who attended were Harley riders.

Carter said Harley's decision to bar the flag "smacked of political correctness."

"It shows that corporate America is afraid of the `R' word," he said, in a reference to racism. Not Much Demand Here

The issue is somewhat moot at Milwaukee area Harley dealers, who find few customers looking to buy motorcycle accessories bearing the rebel flag.

"We haven't had any interest or demand for it up here," said Andy Goldstein, sales manager of Suburban Motors Harley- Davidson in Thiensville.

In the South, the cause of the Confederate flag has been supported by conservative politicians, including Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Oliver North, who lost in the US Senate race last month in Virginia.

Last August, South Carolina Republicans, in a non-binding referendum, voted 76% to 24% to keep the Confederate flag flying over the Statehouse. South Carolina is the only state to fly the flag over its capitol, although Georgia and Mississippi incorporate the design in their state flags. A Federal Court lawsuit was filed last year in South Carolina, seeking to force the state to lower the flag.

Last March, five high school students at Oregon High School in the Dane County community of Oregon were suspended for displaying the Confederate flag and a flag with a skull and crossbones from the back of a pickup truck in front of the school. School officials said the flag was racist.