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Bob Young and the Tiger-Cats take a stand against Hamilton restaurant’s Confederate flag

Andrew Bucholtz

The Confederate flag* has caused debate all over the U.S., but now it's creating a controversy in Hamilton—and the Tiger-Cats are involved. Cameron Bailey, the owner of new restaurant Hillbilly Heaven, has come under fire for the Confederate flag displayed on his restaurant's sign, but he defended it last week by telling CBC "I have guys from the TigerCats come in here and some of them are southern black guys. As soon as there's some TiCat players that say 'hey, take that down,' then I'll think about it." Well, Ticats' owner (though he prefers "caretaker") Bob Young doesn't seem thrilled that his team's being used as a way to promote the Confederate flag, and he sent Bailey a rather interesting letter about it. From Drew Edwards at The Scratching Post, here's the key part of Young's note:

Accompanying this letter are the official flags of the State of North Carolina and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I’d like to trade you these flags in exchange for “future considerations.” (These considerations would see you discontinue the use of the Confederate battle flag for the foreseeable future).

Let me be clear: I love Hillbillies. I like everything about them. When I first moved to North Carolina my wife accused me of making her and my daughters do a "reverse Beverly Hillbillies" by moving from the big city to the hills of North Carolina. She was right, and wrong. From pulled pork (the best in the US by the way) to huntin' turkeys, I've enjoyed everything about living in a modern Southern state for the last 16 years. On the other hand, I have also been a part of teams that have led, and are still leading the technology world, based out of Research Triangle Park here in North Carolina.

The 21st century South is a community much like those of any modern society in the world today, where we embrace all of our fellow citizens as our equals. The old attitudes and beliefs relating to race as symbolized by the battle flag are now part of our distant past. We would like to see these consigned exclusively to museums, and graveyards of fallen Southern civil war soldiers.

From this corner, this is a tremendous move by Young. Rather than just lecture Bailey, he's illustrating he understands Bailey's perspective but disagrees with it. He's also offering a constructive solution rather than just yelling at Bailey to take down the flag. Of course, who knows if that will actually have an effect on Bailey, but this seems about the best possible way for the Tiger-Cats to respond to the controversy over this restaurant.

It's disappointing that Bailey would use "well, Tiger-Cats' players are okay with it" as logic in the first place, though. First off, that ignores a lot of the history around the use of the Confederate flag (which, beyond its pro-slavery Civil War connotations, has since been adopted by white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan). The flag's drawn controversy everywhere from concert stages to statehouse steps, and while some are still okay with it being used as a symbol of the American South, many aren't. Moreover, just because Tiger-Cats' players haven't complained about the flag to Bailey doesn't mean they endorse his decision to use it. It's also particularly disappointing to see this in Hamilton, as Upper Canada (current-day Ontario) was the first part of the British Empire to abolish slavery, Southern Ontario was the key arrival point on the Underground Railroad and Ontario settlements like Wilberforce were some of the first communities set up to encourage black immigration.

Moreover, the Tiger-Cats themselves made some of the CFL's most important moves towards racial equality by giving black quarterbacks like Bernie Custis and Chuck Ealey a chance. Their history isn't perfect (much like Canada's own history with regards to race), but this is not an organization that should be linked to the Confederate flag. It's good to see that Young recognizes that and is willing to take a strong stance against it. Hopefully Bailey will accept his offer and get back to serving food, not controversy.

*Note for the fellow history geeks out there: what Bailey is displaying is actually the Confederate battle flag, developed by General P.G.T Beauregard and his aide William Porcher Miles as something that would be easily distinguishable from the Union's Stars and Stripes on the field. The first offical flag of the Confederate States Of America was the Stars and Bars, and although the second and third national flags incorporated the battle flag's design, the full design (an diagonal cross, or saltire, similar to the St. Andrew's Cross design the Scottish flag features) was never a flag used politically by the CSA. It's since become synonymous with "the Confederate flag", though.