Civics, Lessons

A Confederate flag causes a stir in the Italian Market.

FLAG FLAP: The appearance of the Stars and Bars on an adjacent property caused tension for Italian Market-area resident Charles Baltimore. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

When Charles Baltimore and his college-aged children moved into a newly renovated three-story home in the heart of the Italian Market, their predominantly white neighbors greeted them with open arms. As a black middle-class family who'd already lived in a similar environment, they were familiar with the challenges of being in the minority. But when the family directly behind them decided to hang a Confederate flag in clear view, they didn't think that was very neighborly.

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but when it's threatening and can be perceived as racial intimidation, the area gets very gray," Baltimore says. "We all know the only thing that flag stands for is the oppression of my ancestors."

The Confederate battle flag has long been a source of needling controversy. Supporters say it honors the men who valiantly defended the South during the Civil War; opponents see a lingering symbol of racism and the brutality of slavery.

Baltimore says that when he and his two kids moved there in February, his neighbor, Nick DelVecchio, had an American flag hanging from a pole in his backyard. But three days after a Fourth of July barbecue Baltimore hosted for his own racially eclectic mix of friends, the Stars and Stripes came down and the Stars and Bars went up.

Baltimore's children, Daniella, 21, and Elando, 22, are disturbed by the signal the flag sends.

"It represents a time when people thought it was OK to oppress blacks just based on the color of their skin," Daniella says. "It makes me very uncomfortable."

Elando's second-floor bedroom window is eye level with the enormous flag.

"It's the first thing I see every morning," he says.

Hoping to have the flag removed, Baltimore called civic organizations around town, the community relations department of the 3rd Police District and his neighborhood precinct to no avail. Finally, he launched a written campaign targeting elected officials, the ACLU and newspapers. Still nothing.

For an entire month, Baltimore tried talking to everyone — except his neighbor.

"I wasn't going to knock on his door and put myself in a position where he could openly threaten me or draw me into something," he says. "Since his actions were so ignorant, I think he would have reacted to me in an ignorant way."

So when a City Paper reporter and photographer knocked on Nick DelVecchio's front door, his 80-year-old mother, Theresa, was taken aback.

"He's our neighbor," she observed. "Why didn't he just reach across the wall and tell us?"

Nick DelVecchio wasn't home, but his mom says the flag was never meant to offend. She admits, though, that her son is aware of its racist implications.

"We had an American flag up, but it got ripped up from all the bad weather. So, my Nicky took that one down and replaced it with the other one. It had nothing to do with that new family. But, we'll take it down because we want to be friends. We're not prejudiced. We even have a colored lawyer. If you can't fight 'em, you join 'em," she explained with a wink.

Dressed in a faded housecoat, the pint-sized woman stood wringing her hands.

"But if we don't want to take it down, we don't have to," she said. "We own this home and we've been in this neighborhood for 100 years. We can do whatever we want."

In recent years, the bustling neighborhood has gone from almost exclusively white to a diverse mix of Asians, blacks and Hispanics. According to a 2000 Philadelphia Planning Commission census of the approximately 21,000 Italian Market residents, whites comprised 63 percent and Asians nearly 18 percent, with blacks and Hispanics at 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

Michael Coard, an activist/attorney who often works for clients with racially based grievances, says the legal rights of individuals must be preserved.

"Although I don't like the idea of a Confederate flag being hoisted in the name of racism, I do recognize the rights of the private person," he says. "If we stop that person from waving that flag because it offends us, then I can be stopped from waving my black liberation flag. We have to be consistent."

Coard points out that if the Confederate flag were flying above City Hall or at a state or federal site, American taxpayer dollars would be supporting the action — which would be objectionable. That doesn't apply to private property.

Theresa DelVecchio said she'd let her son know that he had been insensitive to his neighbors, and that the flag would come down. Less than 24 hours later, she made good on her promise. The Confederate flag made way for a brand-new American flag.

God bless America — assholes and all.

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