Video: The Rebel Flag at Macomb Community College

Last week, I came across the Confederate flag for the first time since the Charleston shootings. I ended up meeting the owner of the flag, interviewing him on video, and writing a brief opinion piece about the situation, which was published by the Detroit Free Press.

In the piece, I explained my reaction to seeing the flag, and what through my head as I examined my options, both legal and not, about what to do with the flag. In the end, I did nothing illegal or inappropriate, and had a pleasant enough conversation with the young man who owned the truck.

The reaction that the piece got surprised me. Sure, I expected a little bit of a flame war, but I was amazed by how one-sided the conversation is and that I'm on the unpopular side.

There are three things I'd like to clear up.

1. The young man I interviewed, Matt McGuire, was more than happy to share his name and his twitter handle with me, and he knew the video would be on the Free Press and Deadline Detroit. I didn't expose him to any critique that he wasn't eager to be exposed to.
2. When Matt Mcguire told me he "obviously wasn't racist", I believed him. As people started looking through his twitter and Instagram history, they noticed that he called black people spooks, referred to Japanese people as eggrolls, and called another group of people diaperheads. The list of his ethnic indiscretions goes on and on. If he's not racist, then I'd really rather not meet any real racists any time soon.
3. The Civil War was fought for over slavery. You don’t have to believe the Liberal Mainstream Media, you can read it for yourself. Just Google a state that joined the Confederacy, with the term “secessionist declaration” and read it with your own eyes, or, if reading isn’t your thing, please watch the video below, from Colonel Ty Seidule, Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. No matter how many times you wash the Confederate flag, and no matter what kind of soap you use, the stench of racism, slavery, murder, rape, and war will never be removed from it.