A Maryland Episcopal parish has halted an annual local Confederate Flag Day ceremony that was set to take place in the church cemetery. The event would have also honored the captain of a Confederate commerce raider who is buried there.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the Rector of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis, the Rev. Amy Richter, said the ceremony “can’t happen and it won’t happen…Now we know the connection they have, it can’t happen.” She also said she wanted the church to get this chapter of its 325-year history behind it.
The ceremony was tied to Confederate Flag Day, an occasion in its second year, planned for Saturday, on which the national Sons of Confederate Veterans organization coordinates flying the flag at mass gatherings….
…There have been widespread efforts to end open celebrations of the Confederacy, angering those who believe this represents revisionist history.
One of those involved in the effort is Linda Mundy, co-founder of the group Stand Up for Racial Justice Annapolis.
Mundy said that once she learned about the ceremony for Waddell and its ties to Confederate Flag Day, she started speaking with organization members on how to respond.
She contacted Richter, telling her about the event and that the Sons of Confederate Veterans is on a list of hate groups monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Richter said …(t)he group had worked out a deal with the cemetery staff enabling it hold the ceremony in exchange for helping to clean up the cemetery grounds twice a year.
Google map image of parish and cemetery here.