Local NAACP urges Sonoma Raceway to take ‘authentic steps’ to enforce Confederate flag ban

A photo of a Confederate flag flying above a recreational vehicle this weekend at the Sonoma Raceway has North Bay advocacy groups questioning how serious the race track is about its ban on the flag.

Raceway officials, according to a spokesman, would likely revisit the track’s four-year-old policy as a result of the incident.

On Monday, the NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma County chapter, in a statement posted on the group’s Facebook page, urged track officials to "maintain awareness and continue to be proactive in addressing the harmful ideologies of racism that plague this country and that are shared by some of its patrons.“

Chapter President Kirstyne Lange said the Sonoma Raceway "must take intentional and authentic steps to ensure visitors are not allowed to display symbols of hate.“

The photo was posted Sunday afternoon on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of Indivisible Petaluma, a local progressive group of community activists and organizers.

“Their website states that they don't allow Confederate flags, but you can see this right by the road, 100% visible,” the Facebook post stated, referring to the race track. It added that because of the flag’s association with white supremacist movements, track officials “need to address” the issue.

In a statement sent to a Press Democrat reporter via Facebook messenger, the group said it received the photo from an anonymous community member who had been driving past the raceway on Sunday.

Sunday marked the final day of the National Hot Rod Association Sonoma Nationals.

The weekend event, which began on Friday, drew thousands of racing fans to the facility at Sears Point, just south of the Sonoma Mountains.

“The issue is despite their policy banning the flags, they’re still being displayed,” the statement from Indivisible Petaluma continued. Sonoma Raceway officials, it added, “need to be more proactive about their policy and ensure flags are removed immediately. This would require a sweep of the sites before people leave their RVs to watch the races.”

Asked to provide their name, the Indivisible Petaluma representative who sent the statement did not respond.

Reached Sunday evening, Jeff Motley, Sonoma Raceway’s vice president of communications, told The Press Democrat he had not seen the photo on social media. Instead, he said, he learned about the flag on Sunday from another raceway employee.

He declined to elaborate.

“It’s unfortunate that this happened,” Motley said. “We’re very inclusive. It’s very important to us to not bring these Confederate flags in.”

According to the track’s policies, which are posted under “Events” on its website, “Banners, signs and flags should contain no obscene language, symbols or logos, or graphic depictions. Raceway management reserves the right to approve all banners, signs and flags. Confederate flags (including flags, signs and banners that contain the Confederate flag) are not allowed.”

The policy goes on to say that race track management “reserves the right to remove any and all banners, signs or flags not in compliance with this policy” and should someone refuse to remove “any such banner, sign or flag, you will be subject to removal from raceway premises.”

Motley said raceway workers are “pretty good” about catching things that are prohibited from the grounds. But this time, he said, “we missed this one.”

He said the Sonoma Raceway team would hold a debriefing on Monday to discuss further steps to ensure every employee is properly trained and educated about how to spot and prevent attendees from bringing in prohibited Confederate flags.

Whether that actually happened was unclear. Motley could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

“It’s on the top of our priority list,” he said on Sunday. “We need to be more hypervigilant and do a better job at checking these things.”

Lange, of the NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma County chapter, said it is “problematic that people of color and allies are being tasked with the burden to bear witness but to also bring it to your attention. What happened to the proactive approach in monitoring the grounds overall?”

She said a member of her organization spoke with Motley on Sunday during the second of two attempts to get race track officials to do something about the presence of the flag.

“Mr. Motley stated that the flag was overlooked by the security team, which was unacceptable. Additionally, Mr. Motley confirmed a security team would be dispatched with law enforcement to require the RV owner remove the flag or face a lifetime ban from the raceway; and that this incident would be the top priority of post event protocol meetings and staff directives,” Lange said.

“These steps are appropriate and in alignment with the policy banning the display of Confederate flags adopted by Sonoma Raceway in 2018. Nevertheless, the flag continues to make an appearance, along with other symbols associated with white supremacy and domestic terrorism,” she added. “Sonoma Raceway must take steps to be more proactive in ensuring that camping sites are thoroughly reviewed before attendees walk to the raceway, ensuring that people of color can attend your events without fear. Without making this a priority, symbols of hate will remain visible from the road throughout the day as security waits for attendees to return to their vehicles at the close of the event.”

Created in 1861, the Confederate flag was initially a battle flag meant to represent the 11 slavery-practicing Southern states that seceded from the United States. Subsequently joined by the pro-slavery states of Missouri and Kentucky, the group formed the Confederate States of America and eventually waged a Civil War against the rest of the country.

After 1865, when the war ended and slavery was abolished, the Confederate flag was adopted as a symbol of Southern heritage, but it also was used by various hate groups and became a symbol of white supremacy.

According to the Associated Press, because NASCAR is “a series steeped in Southern tradition and proud of its good ol’ boy roots,” It was not unusual to see the Confederate flag, along with a host of other flags, flying above vehicles or draped around someone’s shoulders at a NASCAR event.

But in June 2018, after complaints from some of its attendees, Sonoma Raceway, which is part of the NASCAR circuit, banned the Confederate flag from all of its races and venues.

NASCAR followed suit in 2020 at the behest of driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr.

Wallace, the second Black driver in NASCAR history to win at its top Cup Series level, called for the ban in the midst of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

You can reach Staff Writer Mya Constantino at mya.constantino@pressdemocrat.com. @searchingformya on Twitter.