Flag prompts call for parade cancellation

HOMESTEAD, Fla., May 27 (UPI) -- The flying of a Confederate battle flag may force the cancellation of this year's Veterans Day parade in the city of Homestead, Fla., officials say.

The military affairs committee of the city Chamber of Commerce will decide next month whether to hold a parade in light of a complaint from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

The NAACP's Miami-Dade chapter launched a campaign against the city after the Sons of Confederate Veterans were allowed to march in the parade for the first time last November carrying a Confederate battle flag.

The chamber's board of directors has voted unanimously to recommend the military affairs committee disband the 47-year-old parade when it meets June 4.

"Canceling the parade is a head-in-the-sand approach," says Brad Brown, first vice president of the Miami-Dade chapter of the NAACP. "It's a way of trying not to deal with the issue."