Legalectric

Confederate battle flag in Albert Lea parade?

July 4th, 2015

So it’s the 4th of July, and yesterday in Albert Lea’s parade, a Hartland Fire Department truck is displaying the Confederate battle flag. Yes, really. A publicly owned City of Hartland truck, a public employee, in Minnesota… speechless…

Many people get the origin of this flag confused, it’s not an official state flag or a “Confederate” flag, but is a battle flag of Virginia. More disturbing is that most people don’t know of the history of use of this flag in the 1940s and on to the present as a symbol of resistance/opposition to integration. This symbolism is what I object to, the way it’s been used as a symbol of suppression and hate, often under color of law, such as use by Gov. George Wallace when he fought integration of his state’s schools. People here in the North are particularly ignorant of the history of this flag. I see it often as a bumper sticker, as a decal on a truck window, or big truck grills and mudflaps.

How many thousands of people attended this parade? Yet this happened… no one stood up… no one stopped it… silence… The silence of people in Albert Lea on Friday watching this is worse than the display, it is through silence that some of the most horrific behavior in human history has occurred. The Hartland Fire Department and City which allowed this use on its City equipment should be held accountable. And then there’s the guy who put it there, Brian Nielsen — what message is he delivering to his daughter, his daughter’s friend, and his niece? The organizer, per the STrib, “chuckled a bit.”

From MPR: Southern Minnesota fire department takes a stand for the Confederacy

In the STrib: Firetruck flies Confederate flag alongside stars and stripes in holiday parade

Parade rules distributed to entrants say “all vehicles … must be decorated in either a patriotic theme or according to the parade theme.” This year’s theme: “Teaming Up for America.”

Kehr chuckled a bit and acknowledged that the Hartland firetruck was “probably not” in compliance.

“chuckled a bit” — very funny…

And the Washington Times: Minnesota firefighter flies Confederate flag in parade

And the first article from the Albert Lea paper:

Confederate flag flown at Third of July Parade

Published 1:34pm Saturday, July 4, 2015

A Confederate flag flown on the back of the Hartland Fire Department truck during the Third of July Parade sparked conversation in the community and on social media.

Brian Nielsen, who drove the truck with his wife, daughter, his daughter’s friend and his niece, said he has been on the department for about 10 years.

“It’s not that I’m up for the rebel or the slavery part of it, “ Nielsen said. “It’s history. They’re trying to take this flag away. They’re basically trying to change the history and abolish it and get rid of it.”

The comments come about two weeks after nine people were killed on June 17 at an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. Authorities said the accused gunman had posed in photographs with the Confederate battle flag.

The shooting has sparked debate across the country about the role of the Confederate flag, and the South Carolina Legislature is slated to vote about whether to remove the flag from the Statehouse grounds. Walmart has announced it is removing any items from its store and website that feature the flag.

“Even the Minnesota flag, they want to change that,” Nielsen said. “Where does it end?”

Nielsen said he wasn’t looking to get a lot of attention from his decision to fly the flag, and he didn’t think it would spur as much discussion as it has. He, himself, has a family member who is black, he said.

He had the Confederate flag on one side of the back end of the truck, while the U.S. flag was on the other.

He noted he saw two or three other Confederate flags along the parade route.

Nielsen said he talked with a few of the other firefighters on the department, and they supported him standing up for his rights. Another fire department in the county approached him as well saying they had considered doing the same thing.