A county fair in Wisconsin recently made the decision to ban the Confederate Flag because it offended someone.
The board of the Vernon County Fair decided to ban Confederate Flag from being sold at the fair. Vice President John McClelland Jr. gave the Lacrosse Tribune the reason for its banning, “It’s a piece of our history, but someone got their feelings hurt. So we decided not to sell it.”
One resident, Mark Kastel, is against the Confederate battle flag being sold at the fair, telling the Vernon County Broadcaster, “I just don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who claim that (the Confederate battle flag) is some important part of their heritage.”
“I’m asking the board to be conciliatory to everybody in the community. Even if there is one person negatively affected by this, that’s too many,” he added.
The Lacrosse Tribune also reports that after Kastel objected to a vendor selling the flag last summer, the vendor “became intimidating” towards him.
Kastel reportedly said, “It angers me personally because I consider (the Confederate battle flag) a symbol of hate.”
The Confederate Battle Flag, long a controversial topic, continues to be a major issue in the culture wars, and can occasionally stir violence among its objectors. In one example from June, a woman ripped a Confederate Flag tag off of a man’s car and hit him with her car. (RELATED: Woman Rips Confederate Flag Off Man’s Truck, Hits Him With Car)
That incident may have been part of a larger trend of violence and vandalism directed at supporters of the flag. One trend is known as the “No Flaggin’ Challenge,” where people rip down and destroy people’s flags.