Petaluma man raises Confederate flag, sparks debate

A debate over the Confederate flag has raged in South Carolina in the week since a man walked into a Charleston church and shot nine parishioners. On Tuesday, that debate moved to a neighborhood in east Petaluma.

That’s when Travis Kilbourne hoisted the flag up a pole in his Lassen Drive yard, an action he says was meant to make a point about the First Amendment and the right to fly the flag at a time that many across the South and the nation are arguing to take it down because of its connection to slavery, segregation and racism.

South Carolina’s Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican, called Monday for the flag to be removed from the state’s Capitol; lawmakers in Mississippi have argued for removing the insignia from their flag. At the same time, major businesses like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target have said they will strike products with the image from their offerings.

“I’m not a racist person. I don’t condone racism of any kind,” said Kilbourne, 33, who described himself as a nonpartisan history buff who participates in Civil War re-enactments as a Union soldier. His flying of the flag was “not a response to a national tragedy,” rather it was a response to the resulting backlash against the Confederate flag, Kilbourne said.

“I’m just a private citizen making a public statement about the First Amendment and how important it is,” he said.

The move has upset many neighbors.

Former City Councilwoman Janice Cader-Thompson, who lives nearby on Carlsbad Court, said she was shocked to see the flag in her neighborhood earlier Wednesday.

“I was very offended,” she said. “Nine people were just murdered, a 21-year-old man killed them and wrapped himself in that flag.”

She was referring to pictures that have surfaced of shooting suspect Dylann Roof, who reportedly told investigators that he wanted to start a race war.

Kilbourne said he had not read much about the suspected killer and was not aware that Roof had affiliated himself with the flag. However, he maintained that it was wrong to take down the flag in reaction to the massacre in Charleston.

Kilbourne argued the flag was not a symbol of racism but of history.

“It is a battle flag used to identify armies on the battlefield,” he wrote on a sign posted under his flag to explain his intentions. “Americans fought and died under this flag, it should be given the same respect as the national flag.”

He said he’d received mainly support in the day since he erected the flag. On Wednesday evening, as he stood outside, a couple in a white truck honked in support.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Tiffany Tieken of efforts to remove or ban the Confederate flag. “I feel they’re blaming the flag for killing people. The flag didn’t pull out a gun and shoot someone.”

But many others passing by on their way home from work or soccer practice at a nearby park expressed surprise or dismay. One woman slowed her car to shout her disapproval at Kilbourne.

“I’m your friend and neighbor, but you need to take that down,” she said.

Jim Harberson, a former councilman and county supervisor, shook his head while riding by on his bike.

“To put up something to honor a guy who was a racist and a coward,” he said, referring to Roof. Harberson, who once lived in North Carolina, said he saw opponents of racial integration adopt the Confederate flag during the civil rights era. “I think it’s nuts. Talk about bad taste and timing.”

Courteney Moore, in the neighborhood to pick up her son from soccer practice, stood across the street and tried to make sense of it.

“It’s shocking, by far,” she said. Of the argument that the flag was not a symbol of racism, she said, “It’s like saying the Nazi flag was not about (killing) Jews.”

Still, nobody went so far as to call for the flag to come down.

“I would hope he’d consider taking it down, but he has the right to fly it,” Cader-Thompson said. “And I have the right to speak out against it.”

Kilbourne, who has also hung a string of faded Tibetan prayer flags at his home, said he didn’t intend to make anyone feel uncomfortable by displaying the Confederate flag. If someone came to him saying it made them feel that way, he said, he’d talk it over and try to come up with a compromise.

“He might even talk me into taking it down,” he said. “Everyone has a view. That’s the great thing about this country: The ability to express those views.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jamie Hansen at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jamiehansen.