BUCYRUS, Ohio — Protestors and supporters alike filled the streets of Bucyrus on Saturday for a Confederate Flag parade through the downtown area.
Chad Stander and Raelynn Marie Skelton organized an event on Facebook called, “Drive Thru Bucyrus For Confederate Flag Pride Day.” The parade consisted of trucks, cars, SUVs and motorcycles — all fashioned with the Confederate Flag or American Flag.
Stander was quoted Wednesday saying interest for the parade was spurred on by recent controversial events surrounding the flag.
In June, Dylann Roof shot and killed nine black members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina. Investigators of the shooting later found pictures of Roof posing with a Confederate Flag and Roof eventually confessed he had shot the victims with intent on starting a race war.
South Carolina state legislature removed the Confederate Flag from capitol grounds in July.
Joel Vega, a protestor, held a sign that read, “Traitors, Losers and Haters since 1865” on one side and “History of Hate” with a crossed out Confederate Flag on the other.
“We’re north of the Mason Dixon [Line] here. We’re an hour and a half away from Canada. There is no history for a Confederate battle flag in this part of the country — in northern Ohio, said Vega.
“To do this has no historical basis and it’s simply to rub racism in people’s faces. Or they just don’t know what it is and they’re just being ignorant,” he added.
Down the street, Jeanette Parker, pointed to Vega and said, “He doesn’t know history. This flag is not racist. It was the southerners, the South … It was their flag. It was a battle flag — that flag didn’t have anything to do with racism.”
Jill Lazar, another bystander and protestor disagreed.
“I’m not supporting this (parade) because the people who do are misled. Chad Stander, the organizer, said that the Confederate Flag is like the Christian Flag in a way. That is very wrong. We, Christians, stand for freedom, spiritually, mentally and physically for all people,” said Lazar.
David Green, from Mansfield, participated in the parade with his truck and waved four Confederate Flags. He said the flag represents a southern heritage that predates the Civil War, not racism.
“People wanted to be free of a growing federal government,” said Green. “The racism thing — the only thing that can take it away is Jesus Christ. That’s what is going to help.”
