A little less than one month after Mississippi’s governor signed a bill removing the Confederate battle emblem from the state’s flag, the Remington Town Council did the same — voting unanimously on July 20 to change the town seal, which for decades featured a small depiction of the rebel flag.
Since 1985, the seal could be seen on signs along the town’s borders and on the Remington Town Hall. But in the wake of the killing of George Floyd — a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes — town council members said it had been vandalized.
Vice Mayor Devada Allison said the council had previously chosen not to take action after hearing from residents upset by the battle flag’s inclusion in the seal. But in light of the national reckoning over institutionalized racism and the “healing process” happening in the country, he said council members recognized it was time for the seal to change.
“We are moving forward as a community,” he said. “We definitely want Remington to be represented as welcoming to everybody, because that’s what it is.”
Located in southern Fauquier County near the intersections of U.S. 29, U.S. 17, Va. 28 and U.S. 15, Remington is an incorporated town of about 600 residents.
Ryan Hart, owner of Waterline Aquatics — a swimming pool repair service in Remington — celebrated the council’s vote. He and his wife bought their first home in Remington eight years ago, and are now raising their three children in the town. He wants them to be proud of their town, he said, and not be looked down upon by those who assume it is racist because of the presence of the Confederate battle flag on its emblem.
His wife, Amanda Hart, agreed. Though she grew up a mile outside the town, she said its seal really began to bother her and her husband after they moved to Remington. Many of their friends and family members are people of color, and it hurt that they had to drive past the seal on their way to the Harts’ house.
Plus, she and her husband both were emphatic that the Confederate battle flag does not represent the character of Remington. When they had a small house fire last month, their neighbors stepped up to take care of them, Hart said, bringing over meals and checking in to see if they were alright.
“Our neighbors are just so lovely, and the town is just incredibly sweet and thoughtful,” she said. “That’s important to me — to represent the love and kindness we’ve got going on in our community.”
About a month before the council’s vote, McKenna Cupka — a rising eighth grader at Taylor Middle School in Warrenton — started a petition condemning the battle flag’s inclusion in the town seal. Her family lived in Remington until she was 8 years old, and a sign near M.M. Pierce Elementary — where she went to school — featured the town’s seal.
Since the time she was young, Cupka said she has had an issue with the battle flag’s inclusion on the seal.
“I just thought it wasn’t something that should be on a sign — especially where kids of color go,” she said. “I didn’t think history should be erased. I think it should be taught about, but I personally view it as a hateful thing.”
Around the same time Cupka started the petition — which eventually gained more than 200 signatures — Ryan Hart connected over social media with the town’s representative on the Fauquier County School Board, Stephanie Litter-Reber.
Hart had asked his Facebook friends if they would be OK with having a Confederate battle flag on their town’s seal, sparking a discussion in the comment section.
From there, Litter-Reber started researching the seal’s history, reaching out to the man — Tom Reese Jr. — who designed it. At the council’s July meeting, Litter-Reber explained that Reese hadn’t meant to hurt his Black neighbors by including the battle flag in the seal’s design. Instead, he said he had done so for the same reason he included a silhouette of a train in the design: to represent the town’s history.
Between 1862 and 1863, two Civil War battles were fought at the Rappahannock Station in Remington. The Confederate army won the first battle and the Union army claimed a major victory in the second battle. For that reason, Litter-Reber explained in a Facebook post, Reese had designed the seal so that the American flag was bigger than the Confederate battle flag.
But those who visit Remington may not understand this history, and may see the seal as a symbol that the town accepts hatred — something that couldn’t be further from the truth, she wrote.
“Our town takes care of each other. It's time to design a seal that honors our history -- but also honors our present and our future and depicts us as the loving community that we are,” she wrote.
Up until the town council’s next meeting on Aug. 17, anyone who lives in Remington is welcome to submit a design for the new town seal. Then, town council members will narrow the submissions down to three designs, and then ask residents to vote for their favorite.
But even though the meeting is still weeks away, the Confederate battle flag can no longer be seen on the seals on the town’s welcome signs and government buildings. Initially, Hart said, the council used images of the Virginia state flag it had printed out to cover the emblem, but the paper images were torn down.
So he took matters into his own hands. With the council’s permission, he called up Piedmont Press & Graphics in Warrenton, and the business offered to donate vinyl decals of the state flag that could be used to cover the Confederate battle flag. Then he drove around town, sticking the decals over the Confederate flag as a temporary solution.
“Having the rebel flag on the sign was a divisive symbol and not really representative of the inclusive community that we have here,” he said. “It’s a good time to get rid of it, so everybody feels welcome that comes to our town and sees our welcome signs.”
Angela Roberts is a summer intern from the University of Maryland’s journalism school. Her internship was made possible by the Piedmont Journalism Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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