Ohio Police Chief Refuses to Apologize for Confederate Flag Shirt
An Ohio police chief is refusing to apologize after a photo surfaced of him wearing a Confederate flag vest while on vacation in South Dakota.
Robert Hickman, police chief of Port Clinton, has said that he will not apologize for the outfit choice, arguing that the Confederate flag does not symbolize racism to him.
The police chief told WKYC-TV that he "[does] look at the Confederate flag as a racist symbol."
Other city officials, including Port Clinton Mayor Vince Leone, have come to the defense of the local police chief, arguing that they have not received any complaints regarding the chief's attire choice while he was on vacation in Sturgis, South Dakota recently.
"Chief Hickman has demonstrated his undivided loyalty to our community," Leone said in a statement to the News Herald. "That loyalty has not wavered or diminished by the color of one's skin nor the status within our community."
Others have taken to social media and other local news outlets to express their dismay regarding the confederate flag vest. Jim Jackson, NAACP president for the Sandusky chapter, told the Sandusky Register that he believes the Confederate flag is understood by most to be a symbol of slavery and racism.
"There are likely very few Americans who don't understand that symbol," Jackson said. "You can't be ignorant because every individual in America understands what that flag means."
"With all of the things that have transpired in the news recently you have to know what that flag represents," Jackson continued.
