So there's this city councilman from West St. Paul, Minnesota, named
Ed Hansen who displays a Confederate flag emblazoned with the word "REDNECK" on the deck of his house, easily visible from the street and a nearby park.
Some nice quotes from this asshole:
"It represents sovereignty, individual rights and individual liberty. It's my free speech, and that's my choice."Sure, it represents sovereignty. The sovereignty to defy the Federal government and form a separate, racist nation. It also represents individual rights. The individual right to own human chattel. It also represents individual liberty, but only the individual liberty of whites.
"I'm not a racist, and I don't think it's racist. People like to play the race card, though, when they don't get their way."The moment you feel a need to say "I'm not a racist," you should take a long, hard look at what you just did or said. Because it was probably racist. And people do like to play the race card....when they are talking to a racist.
"They should study history. It represents true sovereignty."So.....a city councilman....an elected official of the US government....believes that the flag that represents
true sovereignty is the flag of a confederacy formed for the express purposes of maintaining a racist, slavery-based economy by seceding from the nation he is supposed to be serving. And he dismisses all criticism as "It's my house, what's the problem?"
Well, Mr. I'm-Not-A-Racist, the problem is that the flag you so cherish even above the flag of the nation you serve (I see no Old Glory on his deck....) for the vast majority of Americans represents a racist, slave nation that fought a war with the USA. Your city has a sizable black population, who all see that flag on your deck as the symbol of lynchings, white sheets, brutal enslavement, the destruction of a culture, and the pathetic clinging to a backwards culture of racist, white elitism. To them it is the symbol of a people whose cruelty towards their forefathers was unimaginable. To them it is a symbol of terror, repression, and hate.
And you, as a city councilman, are supposed to represent these people.
THAT'S the problem, Mr. Hansen. You are saying "fuck you, nigger" to the people you are supposed to be serving. You may not be intending to say that, but I guarantee you this is what people are hearing, and you know it. You are a coward hiding behind the 1st Amendment, wrapping yourself in the Bill of Rights so you can safely spew your hatred.