Victor Ornelas Discusses Fraternities and the Confederate Flag

Victor Ornelas Discusses Fraternities and the Confederate Flag

Fraternities use of the Confederate Flag; student action

Listen to alumnus Victor Ornelas talk about the use of the Confederate Flag by fraternities and the action toward understanding taken by Black students and their allies.

Victor Ornelas and Jennifer Helgren

In copyright.

WAV

English

oral history

Stockton, California
1960s

oral history interview

1:21

Victor Ornelas: "I remember there was one evening when the Black ball players. . . . Well, they were kind of the founders of Black Student Union. So there's the members of the Black Student Union led by many of the Black football players, [they] said . . . I can't remember exactly which fraternity, but they still had the Confederate flag flying above their house. And so I was invited to join this group of players, and we went over to the fraternity house to have a conversation with them about why it was in their best interest just to take down that flag. It was pretty straightforward. I was just there observing and listening, but I was right there with them. They said, that it’s incredibly humiliating and shameful. And maybe it's their fraternity roots, but not something we felt they should be proud of. And so yeah, it was a pretty tense situation. I mean we literally walked into the fraternity house and said that we thought it was a good idea for them to take it down. I can't remember if they did take it down immediately. I think they did. Maybe posted inside the house, but yeah, that's one of those memories."