RALEIGH, North Carolina.- Residents of a Wake County neighborhood remain dismayed after a neighbor placed a Nazi flag on their property.
–
The man initially had a Confederate flag on a tree in his home, but recently decided to cover it with the Nazi swastika, “a symbol of hatred” for many. Exacerbating the annoyance of the neighbors, a campaign poster for now-president Joe Biden accompanied the badge.
–
Rabbi Eric Solomon of the ‘Beth Meyer Synagogue’ condemned the flag posted Wednesday near Wakefield High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
–
“The Jewish community supports all Americans against the display of this symbol of hatred,” Solomon said in a statement endorsed by other Jewish leaders.
–
The group alleges that the swastika is a universal symbol of hatred that represents fear and intimidation against Jews, Muslims, people of color and members of the LBGT community. “In fact, the Nazi symbol is an attack on all Americans,” they added.
–
They confront the owner
A video shared by ABC 11, Editorial partner of Noticias 40, shows the moment when Margaux Kessler, a resident of the neighborhood, decides to confront the owner of the flag.
–
“You have no right to enter my land and destroy my property. You don’t have that right,” the man said as the young woman tried to remove it.
–
According to Kessler, the subject responded by saying he was a “proud American”; a contradictory answer for her since “thousands of American soldiers died in World War II fighting against the Nazi regime,” she added to ABC 11.
–
“A disgusting and highly inappropriate display”
After the controversy, a spokesperson for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office said displaying the flag did not constitute a crime and that his agency did not have the power to remove it.
–
At nightfall one group covered the Nazi symbol with a black paint. Another man destroyed the symbol this Thursday and placed an American flag in its place.
–
“We recognize that the Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, including intolerant, racist and anti-Semitic expressions like these; however, we stand united in condemning this disgusting and grossly inappropriate display,” Raleigh Jewish leaders concluded.
–
