Whether or not he receives permission, central Pennsylvania activist Gene Stilp says he's going to burn a Nazi-Confederate flag he made in front of the Columbia County courthouse Friday to protest sale of Confederate items at the Bloomsburg Fair, and racism in general.
Stilp will be asking the Columbia County commissioners Thursday morning for permission to burn the flag, but said he will do the symbolic burning of the two-sided flag he made regardless of the outcome.
He plans the burning at 11 a.m. Friday, which is the time of the grand opening of the Bloomsburg Fair. He will have a garbage can with a lid in which to extinguish it.
"Maybe I will be cited for violating a burning ordinance - it would be only appropriate for burning trash in public," Stilp said.
"I ask this question to the residents of Columbia County: Do you think there is racism in Columbia County and surrounding counties?" Stilp said.
"It has always been my belief there is a stronghold of white supremacy and racism in the highways and byways of rural Pennsylvania," Stilp said.
Through the flag-burning, Stilp said he wants to support those who are intimidated by Confederate flags seen flying on porches, but don't feel they can speak out.
"People can fly whatever they want," Stilp said, adding that it is a First Amendment right.
But Stilp said people may not equate the Confederate flag with what the Nazi flag symbolizes - racial oppression, bigotry, hatred and death.
Stilp said he made the two-sided flag by hand, sewing a Nazi flag to the back of a Confederate flag. "It turns the stomach at the same time - who wants to handle such thing," he said.
"I may have to take this to all the rural courthouses in Pennsylvania," Stilp adds.
The Bloomsburg Fair board voted last week to allow sale of Confederate items, including flags, but prohibits sale of Nazi items, reported the Sunbury News-Item. There is one vendor selling Confederate items, said the report.
Last year, a vendor selling a Nazi flag was expelled from the Bloomsburg Fair.