Confederate Flag Flap

EAST LANSING – Christopher Zemer has been flying the confederate flag on his antique rootbeer stand for the past 12 years.
But this year the flag is not hoisted on a pole along with an American flag, rather a smaller one being used as a curtain on the window of the trailer.
Unlike other years – and likely because of the attention the June shooting of nine unarmed African-Americans during a church service in Charleston, South Carolina – Zemer faced non-violent protests over the flag.
On Aug. 8, Zemer defended the flag.
"It's part of my heritage," Zemer told City Pulse during the Great Lakes Folk Festival, while his staff slung rootbeer and rootbeer floats in orange, plastic mugs. "I live in the south. Even though I am not a Confederate, I am a Yankee, and my great-great grandfather fought against that confederate flag. But I live in the south and the south flies that flag and I fly this flag."
Zemer grew up in Jackson, Michigan, and relocated to Tyler, Texas many years ago.
Zemer confirmed he had threatened to taser a man Aug. 7, he told City Pulse.
While Zemer's initial response was verbally threats and taunting, on Sunday he may have crossed the line into criminal. City Pulse Publisher Berl Schwartz and East Lansing City Council member Ruth Beier said Zemer threw water under a table at them.
As Beier and Schwartz stood at the concession stand, Beier told him of how he had thrown a bucket of water under the table at her feet. As that discussion was happening, Schawrtz said, Zemer stated, "There's a lot of shit out there," and threw another bucket of water at the feet of both him and the council member.
Schwartz found a festival volunteer and asked for East Lansing Police to be contacted, and he said while they were awaiting the arrival of police, Zemer's employee, dressed in a gray t-shirt with Gadsen Flag snake and the words "Don't Tread On Me," threw another bucket of water at their feet.
While responding officers refused to take a complaint, Schwartz followed up at police headquarters and filed a misdemeanor complaint against the vendor. Police visited the vendor Aug. 9 for his side of the story, and they also spoke with Beier.
The incidents with Schwartz and Beier took place while Beier and a few others protested Zemer's flag display – despite it having been removed for a second time.
Zemer took the flag down Aug. 8, he said, because he feared "liberals" would burn his stand down. He said he knew that was how East Lansing liberals protested because he had seen the news, referencing regular disturbances and riots in the community since 1997, most tied to alcohol at Munn Field or to sporting losses. There has been no civil disturbance in East Lansing triggered by a social protest for years.
Zemer and the incidents in East Lansing are a flashpoint to a larger discussion happening in the U.S. following the recent tragedy in a Charleston church. Following the shooting, the accused shooter was quickly identified and photos of him displaying the confederate flag and other racist symbols surfaced. A racist manifesto by the accused shooter also was revealed.
That incident led South Carolina lawmakers to remove the flag from the state house after a heated debate.
And while Zemer said the flag represented his "heritage" in the south and was not racist, others disagree.
CNN reported in the days following the shooting in South Carolina that the flag represented the secession from the U.S. by confederates, something done in large part to protect and preserve the institution of slavery.
Wendy Sellers of Grand Ledge, and Bill Knapp of Williamston, said they were offended by Zemer's flag. Both said the shootings in South Carolina made them more aware of the racist implications the flag has for some in the community, and felt it didn't belong.
"I felt like it would exclude some people," Sellers said.
Zemer said he doesn't understand the charges of racism and hatred tied to the flag.
"I don't like to understand it," he said Saturday. "I see it, but I don't believe it. I don't believe that flag is racist. Is the Nazi flag a racist flag? Is…" he paused for several seconds. "I'm not going to go there."
Sellers and Knapp agreed that Zemer had a First Amendment right to display the flag, but said they had just as much right under the First Amendment to counter that with more speech.
"It was truly a demonstration of the First Amendment," Knapp said of the Friday night protest.
Lora Hilou, acting director of the MSU Museum which produces the Great Lakes Folk Festival, said festival staff became aware of the flag on the Friday night, when a photo was tweeted out. Staff, she said, asked him to take it down.
But because this is a government sponsored event, requiring the vendor to remove the flag may have violated his First Amendment rights, said Michael Lawerence who teaches at the MSU Law School specifically about First Amendment rights.
"The vendors have a right to political speech as well," Lawerence said Aug. 9 in a phone interview. He said unless there was something in the contract which specifically prohibited the display of such a flag, it was "highly protected speech."
When asked if GLFF staff may have run up against the First Amendment by asking Zemer to remove the flag, Hilou paused before stating, "That's an odd question."
"We asked him to take the flag down, and he did. So, we're really happy we had that kind of resolution," she said. "That's all I'm probably going to be able to offer you. I don't know where you want to go with this."