Veteran’s son asks council to take down Wichita pavilion’s Confederate flag

The man whose father’s name is on the veterans’ flag pavilion in downtown Wichita is asking City Council members to take down the Confederate flag flying at the plaza.

“Many times I have been personally confronted with this flag issue and frankly I would like for it to just go away,” John Stevens wrote in an e-mail last week to the City Council. “This political football needs to be put down and now would be a good time to remove this part of the flag pavilion display.”

A Confederate flag has been displayed at the John S. Stevens Pavilion at Veterans Memorial Plaza near downtown since 1976, when it was placed there in a historical flag display as part of the nation’s bicentennial.

Stevens’ father served as a city commissioner from 1963 through 1976 and was mayor in 1966 and 1967. He died in 1976.

On Tuesday, John Stevens the younger said he was devastated by the fatal South Carolina shootings June 17 at a church.

“Those Christian people were gunned down by obviously an idiot,” Stevens said Tuesday. “I think psychologically that flag may aggravate certain elements in our society.

“There is no point in it being up. It doesn’t help the memory of my dad. He doesn’t deserve the certain amount of prejudice that is put out there about the flag.

“I am saying to the council: take it down. It hurts somebody, take it down.”

In recent weeks, the topic of Confederate flags on public display has become a national discussion. In South Carolina, lawmakers are debating removing a Confederate flag that flies on the statehouse grounds.

Meanwhile, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley last week ordered four Confederate banners taken down near that state’s capitol.

Wichita City Council member Janet Miller said Tuesday that the council is asking for input from the memorial group that raises money to help maintain the veterans memorials downtown.

“We are in a hold pattern to see what they have to say,” Miller said.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Veteran’s son asks council to take down Wichita pavilion’s Confederate flag."