Adams-Riley is rector of St. Paul's—a historic church consecrated in 1845—in downtown Richmond, capital of the Confederate States during the Civil War. He delivered his sermon in late June 2015, during a span of weeks when the U.S. collectively re-evaluated the appropriateness of displaying the Confederate flag: Was it, as its supporters insisted, a historical symbol of Southern heritage, or was the “Southern cross” intrinsically linked to ongoing black oppression and the preservation of white supremacy?
It wasn't a new conversation, obviously. Flag proponents often echoed the reply from then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's office to a 2011 NAACP request to take the flag down from the state's capitol: “We don't expect people from outside of the state to understand,” said Haley's press secretary, “but revisiting that issue is not part of the governor's agenda.”
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