Confederate Flag Placard Sparks Controversy
“PARKING FOR CONFEDERATES ONLY, ALL OTHERS GO BACK NORTH,” read a placard found on the desk of Inter-Club Council (ICC) Vice Chair Gabriella Montgomery. A photo of the placard went viral on the unofficial Santa Monica College (SMC) Facebook group on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 17. The phrase, positioned under a Confederate flag, sparked debate and calls for Vice Chair Montgomery to step down from her position.
Jonathan Flores, the SMC student who took the photo and made the Facebook post, went into the Associated Students (A.S.) office to speak with a director when he spotted the placard.
Representatives of multiple clubs addressed the issue during the public comment portion of the ICC meeting held hours later that day in the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) building. Tom Rhalter of the Democratic Socialists Club (DSC) was the first student to request Montgomery’s resignation from the ICC.
“When someone is elected they don’t just speak for themselves anymore, they speak for the people they were elected by…When someone that we pay to represent us engages in speech or behavior that is damaging to this school, that is hateful toward the students of this school, then I think they should step down,” said Rhalter.
Joe Hempelmann of the Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club seconded this notion during the meeting.
“This campus is really inclusive and there's space for everyone, and to that extent, hatefulness and intolerance can't be a part of the discourse here,” said Hempelmann. “For that reason, the GSA seconds that [Montgomery] should step down.”
Members of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) club, of which Montgomery is the Vice President, came to her defense. The club’s secretary Nico Acevedo compared the Confederate flag placard to “gay flags,” also known as the LGBTQ pride flag.
“If there's gay flags in the office, then she should be able to put a joke right there in her office. So, I mean, I really think it's the same thing,” noted Acevedo. “If you don't think it's the same thing, then you're a hack.”
Acevedo’s comments drew reactions from others in attendance at the ICC meeting, including SMC Student Trustee Brooke Harrington, who addressed the matter by saying, “The Confederate flag is a widely recognized symbol of oppression and hatred, whereas the rainbow pride flag is a universally recognized symbol of pride and acceptance, so there is a difference.”
Montgomery stood for a three minute extended comment, explaining during the ICC meeting, “the content of what I had up, just to inform you guys, was a joke. It’s called satire. The point of comedy is that it’s offensive.”
Reactions continued on to the next week at the A.S. Board meeting on Monday, Oct. 21 at the Cayton Center. Public comments, which allot two minutes per speaker, took an hour and 15 minutes; Montgomery spoke for 10.
The Corsair spoke with Montgomery the following day, where she further explained the story behind her controversial placard and stated that it was given to her as a joke by a friend the day before the photo was posted on Facebook. “And so, when I got it, I was like, ‘this is so hilarious,’ and every time I saw it, it would make me laugh again, so I put it on my desk,” said Montgomery. “And I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal.”
The controversy came as a shock to the ICC Vice Chair as she didn’t expect the placard to offend anyone. “If you’re offended by that, okay… that’s your right to be upset about it, but I think people should think twice before they jump to conclusions… I don’t support the Confederate flag,” said Montgomery. “I was making fun of the Confederate flag. People said they don’t think it’s funny, that’s their opinion. Like, what’s funny is subjective.”
On the subject of the YAF’s club secretary comparing the Confederate flag to the pride flag, Montgomery said, “He might have misspoke, but I think [that] people were misinterpreting what he meant… His comparison wasn’t to compare the hatred and the history behind the Confederate flag to what the pride flag means. His point was to say that it’s something political. It’s something that some people might not agree with.”
When asked if she regrets placing the placard on her desk, Montgomery said, “I don’t regret laughing at it, I still think it’s funny. I regret putting it up because I didn’t think that it was going to offend people. If I genuinely thought it was going to get this type of reaction I wouldn’t have put it up, but it did.”