The big Confederate battle flag on Interstate 24 east of Paducah might be in for some message competition from a neighboring water tower.
Plans call for the tower, which is opposite the flag near exit 16 in Reidland, a Paducah suburb, to be decorated with a unity theme featuring an African American-white handshake superimposed over the Stars and Stripes. “UNITED WE STAND” would be painted above the American flag.
“I feel like this will be a blessing for the whole state of Kentucky,” said J.W. Cleary, Paducah-McCracken County NAACP president.
“It’s a great thing that the McCracken County and Paducah communities want to be inclusive and represent all people,” said Marcus Ray, state NAACP president. “We look forward to making things better in the country with these types of attitudes.”
McCracken County Judge Executive Craig Clymer unveiled the design at the Paducah Water Board’s Zoom meeting Monday night.
Another design is being floated. It would feature multiple, multi-racial hands uplifted below “TOGETHER WE RISE.”
“As the elected leader of all the residents of this county, regardless of race, I really can no longer stay silent and still and allow the divisiveness to divide our community,” Clymer was quoted in a story on Paducah WPSD-TV’s website. “We are all neighbors in McCracken County. We must step forward and speak out with one voice and reject any messages of racial discord.”
The flag flies atop a tall pole in the small, privately-owned “Confederate Park.” It has sparked controversy since the Sons of Confederate Veterans raised it in 2012.
No sooner did the flag go up than Paducah Commissioner Gerald Watkins got the commission to pass a resolution against the flag.
Watkins told WKMS, Murray State’s National Public Radio affiliate, that the flag stood for an army that fought to preserve slavery. “We spend thousands of dollars as a city and a community trying to bring in employment opportunities for people, and I think this flag sends the wrong symbol,” WKMS quoted Watkins. “It’s offensive, and I think it will make our job much more difficult.”
“I am proud of Judge Clymer,” said Watkins. “It sends the right message at the right time. I am fully supportive of the proposal to paint the water tower to show racial unity in the community.”
At the meeting, some water board members said they wanted to hear from the community before deciding on whether to paint the tower, according to WPSD reporter Rebecca Gangemella.
Though the tower is in the county, it’s owned by the city.
“I like the goal of this idea,” said Paducah Mayor Brandi Harless in a statement for WPSD. “We always need to be thinking about how to be more inclusive in our community. I just want to make sure we are working on this design with the groups that promote diversity and work on inclusion every day. Groups like NAACP, WKCTC [West Kentucky Community and Technical College] Diversity and Inclusion Initiative and the Race Unity Group. Let’s make sure this is representative of all people in Paducah.”
Clymer suggested that money for painting the tower could come from private donations instead of tax money.
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