Midstate activist plans to burn Confederate-Nazi flag in York
Activist Gene Stilp holds up a Nazi-Confederate flag before burning it outside the Adams County Courthouse in Gettysburg Nov. 17, 2017. (Photo: Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun)
(York) — A Dauphin County activist plans to burn a combined Confederate-Nazi flag on the steps of the York County Courthouse next week, “rain or shine.”
Gene Stilp has burned several other combined Confederate-Nazi flags in other counties in recent weeks including one in Gettysburg earlier this month.
Stilp said in a news release that the flag he plans to burn, with the Confederate flag on one side and the Nazi flag on the other, “stands for misguided values,” including hate, racism and bigotry. He plans to burn the flag, which is made of cotton and measures 3 feet by 4 feet, in a metal trash can. He said the demonstration is intended to be a “dramatic educational event.”
Stilp said he gave a letter to each of the York County Commissioners at a meeting Wednesday, notifying them of his plans for the flag-burning.
“I think under the First Amendment I won’t need a permit,” Stilp said. Still, he wanted to give the commissioners notice to make sure the demonstration is safe and so “everything goes smoothly and there’s no confrontation.”
As of Wednesday evening, Stilp had not heard back from the York County Commissioners. York County spokesman Mark Walters said the commissioners had received Stilp’s letter, but had not responded to him.
Stilp said he expects he will hear back from the commissioners before Wednesday. Either way, he said, his planned demonstration will move forward.
“We’ll be moving ahead rain or shine,” Stilp said. “And I’m sure the commissioners will grant this (permit for the demonstration) and they’ll understand how the First Amendment works.”
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.
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