A sign of the times

In 1971, Five Man Electrical Band presciently bemoaned our societal preoccupation with signs, symbols and icons when they sang, "Signs, signs, everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind. Do this! Don't do that! Can't you read the sign?" \nToday, we're equally as preoccupied, if not more so, with signs and their myriad meanings. In fact, our lives are inextricably linked to a host of non-verbal cues that command, forbid, instruct, protect and remind us constantly of the boundaries designed to simplify -- although some would say "control" -- our lives. I have nothing against signs, per se, because there's no denying their usefulness, especially given the frenetic zeitgeist of 21st century America. \nUnfortunately, for certain individuals, the word "boundary" is a fluid and quixotically relative term, at best. And, at worst, it means nothing, as personal interpretations of signs and symbols are cavalierly foisted upon the rest of us, and we're expected to hang on tight and enjoy the ride.\nIn July 2000, mechanic Matthew Dixon was fired by the Coburg Dairy of Charleston, S.C., for refusing to remove Confederate flag emblems from his toolbox. Just this month, a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the company's decision. The court held that Dixon has a constitutional right to display the flag, but they also said his right was not unlimited. According to the justices, Dixon had no right to bring his decals into another man's business, namely the dairy.\nThis little brouhaha began when a black co-worker complained about the display, and dairy administrators decided the stickers violated company policy against harassment. Interestingly enough, they didn't come to this decision until after Dixon refused their offer to buy him a new, decal-free toolbox to use at work. \nBut I'm still confused, so you'll have to bare with me while I split a few hairs. \nI always thought that harassment meant "to exhaust; to fatigue; to annoy persistently or to worry and impede by repeated action." By all accounts, Dixon neither said nor did anything that might be construed as a concerted effort to annoy, exhaust or fatigue anyone -- other than put a couple of decals on his toolbox.\nOn any given day, my heart would mirthfully go pitter-pat at the sight of an avowed bigot getting his or her comeuppance, but this just isn't one of those days. Dixon's firing marked a day on which corporate apologetics simply crossed the color line without blurring it one darn bit, to say nothing of eliminating it altogether. What began with a personal statement, ended with the loss of one man's livelihood because of his skin color. And that difference was just enough for the plaintiff to ascribe an overtly racist and pejorative interpretation to a lousy piece of plastic. Chalk one up for the champions of diversity in the workplace.\nThe Stars and Bars was removed from South Carolina's Statehouse in July 2000. According to the South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics, in the same year black voters were outnumbered 3 to 1 by whites, three times as many blacks were living below the poverty level as whites, the average black per capita income was half that of their white counterparts, and on average, black professional degree and Ph.D. holders earned $26,000 less per year than did similarly educated whites. Could it be that a flag is, indeed, just a symbol -- a mere icon open to various and sundry individual interpretations? Instead of demonizing a piece of fabric and all of its representations, could it be that black South Carolinians would be better served by taking their fight to the real source of these conspicuous disparities? You decide.