Bellingham area sitings of Confederate flag while visiting (Seattle, Vancouver: real estate, condo)

[Sierraautosports]

Let's get this out in the open right away. We are an interracial couple who visited the Bellingham area for 4 days because we are concidering relocation because of jobs. We absolutely loved the area and spent many hours touring the area, but had 2 sitings of in your face confederate flags. The first was on Thursday May 12th on the intersection of Britton road and Mt Baker Hwy. We were waiting to turn left unto Mt Baker Hwy when 2 young white men driving a 1991-1994 Mercury Capri convertable drove by with a huge confederate flag. My wife just said "ignorance is everywhere", and we weren't going to let them ruin our day. We follow them for several miles and we ignored them even as they eventually noticed one of us was Black. Their heads whipped around so fast I thought they were owls. They seemed proud that they got our attention, and they eventually turned toward downtown Bellingham as we continued to explore.

Explore we did as we headed for Fidalgo Island and then to Whidbey Island and to Fort Ebey State Park. The road that is the entrance to the park has a business for tax and small business consultanting. Proudly hanging on the entrance is a Confederate flag and an American flag. Makes you wonder if this is a business and they work with locals gave ,then what does this say about the community?

These 2 incidents won't keep us from relocating! We have been descriminated against many times in our 20 year marriage and given the current climate it will never stop. It is disheartening thought that people are so paranoid and obviously ignorant. Imagine if they used all that negative energy in a positive way?

[CrazyDonkey]

Generally, Bellingham is very liberal and tolerant. There was at one time a large "biker" element there, but not sure about now. While northwest cities are very liberal, the "sticks" can be pretty conservative. It does sound to me that the guys in the Capri were out to get a rise out of people. Hard to tell from the telling if they were students (WWU) or local knuckle-draggers.

Whidbey has a large naval air station, with many personnel stationed and retirees settled there from other parts of the country, including the deep south.

[notnamed]

I was surprised to see the battle flag in a few places in the Vancouver area as well. About as often as we saw them in sw Ohio/northern Kentucky. Those that fly them of course say it is about heritage not hate.

But I guess with this being the least diverse part of the country it likely is part of the attraction for racist folks to come here in addition to natives. And they are proud to display their southern 'heritage'.

Race issues aside it is an outright treasonous flag, yet the ones that fly it would likely call themselves big patriots.

[perigee]

Sorry to hear that and your wife is right. I can't believe it's 2016 and not only are there still hate groups, sadly they appear to be growing.

In another post I did allude to the more conservative aspect of rural western WA, though racism knows no political bounds.

I hope the rest of your visit went better.

[west seattle gal]

The truck -- those people must have been from the outskirts, someplace rural. They don't reflect the Bham culture at all. I'm originally from N.C. and sensitive to racial issues, and please let me reassure you that most people over here in Bham are educated and enlightened.

The tax business -- the flag in this scenario most likely represents a libertarian, states' rights kind of stance. Not everyone equates the confederate flag with slavery or racism -- for some it means freedom from federal govt. This type of person is also not represented in general Bham culture.

I'm glad you can overlook that garbage, and welcome to Bham!

[West coast at heart]

Personally...who cares. You do know that some people do things for attention. You gave them what they were looking for...attention. They more than likely do not know why the confederate flag makes people so angry. They just know it is a big to do and in the news. Shortly after the big who hah in the news about the confederate flag,a neighbor suddenly acquired a huge confederate flag and hung it up on the side of his porch facing the street. Another local popped up with a confederate flag on a pole placed in his pick up truck. Now that they things have died down. No more flags...huh!
Long and short...ignore it. As long as they are not physically hurting anyone...who cares. If you give them the time of day, they win. As long as nobody crosses the line,it's all good in my book. Diversity works for me. As an interracial couple obviously diversity works for you too. Enjoy life. Don't look for things to stress about. Real things to stress about will come along soon enough. Have peace in your hearts.

Peace,
wc@h

[j_k_k]

Those flags aren't terribly rare around the rural NW. Follow enough pickup trucks around and you'll see your share. Doubtless some of their displayers are bigots, but a lot more of their non-displayers are bigots.

The good news for blacks in the NW is that most people who are racist are more racist against Hispanics than blacks, so the dogwhistle politics and real estate stuff goes that direction. Still, though, it's important to know that a number of cities in WA and OR used to be sundown towns. The second KKK was pretty strong in Oregon. NE WA and the Idaho panhandle have grown some racist terror groups. Most of the people who are racist against Hispanics would probably also be racist against blacks, if they had more blacks around to be racist against. They make do with what they have, I guess.

I have no basis for comparing NW racism to any of its more commonly believed strongholds, but I think the main difference is that in the urban NW it's less socially acceptable to be overtly racist. Not sure what's in the hearts and minds is that different overall, based on what people will say in front of a person who was once told by a co-worker that he "looked like" a racist. I think they let slip comments in my presence that they would not say in different company.

This may not be much reassurance, but it's the reality as I've lived in sight of it since 1974.

[pikabike]

I have even seen a confederate flag displayed in a resident's yard in Port Townsend, LOL.

Takes all kinds to make a diverse city, not that I like that kind of display.

Ignore them. They probably feel threatened, and giving them attention emboldens them.

[bartonizer]

As a former North Carolinian and southerner I've got an interesting take on it. I am in no way condoning it, but I think it has as much to do with rebellion as it does with racism. Most people there still call it the "rebel flag." Thirty years ago, it was plastered all over tons of things in the south, even on the car featured on the number one national TV show of the time. And yet, most people didn't consider themselves racists for watching the Dukes of Hazzard.

It always made me feel uncomfortable seeing it in the south, given the symbolic history of racists that hid behind it. But I don't think that everyone that ever had something with the flag on it was a racist. It was just as much about stubbornness and a refusal to change (they often call it heritage and pride) just because society told them they should.

Fast forward to the last several years. Long overdue, the issue gained national prominence and the flag was officially removed from government buildings in some states, as it should have been done a long time ago. Suddenly there was a huge increase in Confederate flags all over the country. Was it because people suddenly became racists or felt comfortable displaying a symbol of racism? Well to some people, yes. But for many, many conservatives it was a gut reaction and rebellious response to society around them progressing and leaving them behind. It is obnoxious and in poor taste, that's not unusual for many ignorant conservatives. They also buy guns and proudly display them after school shootings, pass anti-gay ordinances in response to expanded gay rights, and work overtime to take down Planned Parenthood after manufacturing fake controversies.

Are there racists in the Bellingham area? Certainly, there are some everywhere. They're not limited to the south, and even in the most progressive states like CA, WA, and OR, they're out there. But I think even more than racism their display around here is a rejection of urban society. And I've seen similar divides in the last three places that I've lived- Central Florida, Western North Carolina, and Front Range vs. Western Slope in CO. The conservatives in CO and WA seem more libertarian to me- less religious, more "leave me alone." But the rural vs. urban thing may be even more noticeable, as rural conservatives are always convinced that "city folk" are trying to change their way of life and tell them what to do- and that the cities are controlling their livelihood. It's silly, I know, but it causes many of them to want to rebel, and to many people that's what flying the flag is- giving the finger to modern society. On a side note, that's also exactly what Trump is- a way for these people to give the finger to a society that they feel is passing them by.

Back to the topic, I live in the middle of Bellingham and think that most people here embrace diversity and welcome more of it, despite the fact that you see an occasional Confederate flag on a jacked up truck when yahoos from the county come into the city. As nearly everyone else has said, just ignore and move on. They want attention.

I'm glad that this apparently hasn't scared you off, because I don't think racism is rampant here any more than anywhere else in the country, and controversy has probably resulted in more flags than before. Let us know if we can answer any more questions for you!

[west seattle gal]

Just for reference, and since the typical Confederate waving racist tends also to vote Republican, I want to point out that Bham is strongly Bernie country (and I'm not saying all Republicans are racist, just addressing one subset). Bham feels like one large Seattle neighborhood, the people are the same. Many in Bham have moved here from Seattle to escape the traffic and high cost of living, in fact. The community is equally liberal, educated, outdoors-loving, community focused, organic embracing, generally fit, coffee loving, dog loving, crazy bike loving, etc... I saw my first Trump sign ever in an adjacent rural area, around Ferndale.

(And personally I am for Clinton!)