elph, darling, sweetie,
though i agree with how it looks.... when was the last time you were in (or anywhere near) dear old mississippi in which you noted so much histroy? not saying those things did not happen (nor would i ever) or there isn't a sordid history down here but i'm an hour or so from the border and it's not "that" bad in comparison. yes there are extreamist that still exist (i think you find those a lot of places). but the rest of us down here are pretty tame. i can see this being totally missed by non extream yungsters whose minds are focused on one thing.
for the record we have many lighted crosses in our town at christmas (i'm in alabama) that do not look like they are on fire. the issue isn't a lighted cross it's the poor design of this one with lights sticking out everywhere which remove the clean lines that make it look like they are on fire.
i see this as an innocent mistake and we can throw it in the file with the obama sock monkey to pull out for a good laugh about ignorance when a good laugh at someone's expense is needed.
and though i know many would disagree and i do not advocate forgetting history in the least... i see it as kinda good that these kinds of "mistakes" are being made. it does mean that we are moving on from our past. not forgetting but not reliving it through every generation all the time. we can never fully heal and progress as a country if we don't allow ourselves to be able to know our history without feeling it in every breath.... if that makes any since.