DOVER, DE — After burning a combined Confederate/Nazi flag on the steps of the Columbia County Courthouse last week, an anti-racism activist announced plans to repeat the protest at the Dover Speedway on Saturday during the lead-up to NASCAR’s Apache Warrior 400.
Organizer Gene Stilp says the protest underscores the rights of free speech, which he says have constantly been under attack by President Donald Trump.
The combined flag has a Nazi flag on one side and a Confederate flag on the other.
“We support sports figures’ rights to free speech and and will continued to widen the conversation about the role of protest,” said Stilp in a press release issued Thursday. “We are upping the conversation and education level by burning the Nazi-Confederate combination flag at a type of event where the confederate flag has a definite foothold.
“Let’s expand the whole racial conversation beyond kneeling to include the whole racial discussion and also focus on Trump’s racist, bigoted hate filled role.”
Stilp and other activists recently objected to the sale of confederate flags at the Bloomsburg Fair, Pennsylvania’s largest state fair, which is located in Columbia County.
“The Confederate flag was combined with the Nazi flag because the two flags both stood for the wrong values,” Stilp said in the release. “Both flags stand for racism, hatred, bigotry, intimidation, white supremacy, death and subjugation, all of which are anti-American values.
“People can use the First Amendment to say whatever they want, and to fly whatever they want. But they should know what they are saying and what they are flying and exactly what it means and imparts.”
The time of Saturday’s protest in Dover will be announced, Stilp’s release said.
