South Carolina woman Annie Caddell was once very proud to have the Confederate Flag waving on her porch but has since had a change of heart. Caddell’s predominantly Black neighbors battled with her for nearly 7 years about taking the flag down but she was adamant that nothing would change her mind. Well, almost nothing.
Caddell recently suffered a massive heart attack that required triple bypass surgery. She claimed after her near-death experience, she was able to see the error of her ways. The South Carolina resident told the local paper Post and Courier, “After seven long years of battling my community over my Confederate flag, I made the decision that I would like to have unity in my community.”
Caddell’s neighbors got 270 signatures to petition her to take the flag down and in 2011 they raised money to build an 8-foot wooden fence to block the view of it. The 58-year-old Brownsville woman added that after almost dying, “I made up my mind that I don’t have to hurt anybody because of a decision I made without much thought. I never considered how offended they truly were ..I didn’t care. Well, I finally had an eye-opening experience. It’s not about what I feel.”
Cadell said that there are other ways for her to be patriotic without offending anyone, “I can still honor my relatives that died in the Civil War without flying the flag.” Her flag has been donated to a local history museum.
