By Ann McCreary
Owners of a Winthrop variety store are no longer selling T-shirts with an image of the Confederate flag after a visitor and some local citizens objected to the merchandise — and the issue went viral.
A national debate over the Confederate flag spilled into the Methow Valley when a Seattle man shot a video at the store last Wednesday (Aug. 5) and posted it on his Facebook page showing images of the T-shirt, describing it as “proof of some of the hatred still in our country.”
The black T-shirts, which were displayed at the entrance to Shotgun Nellies on the Winthrop boardwalk, had the red, white and blue Confederate flag symbol with the words, “Heritage not Hatred” superimposed over it.
Store owners David and Nilsine Harris declined to comment on the subject this week, indicating that they wanted to put the issue behind them.
David Gottula, president of the Winthrop chamber of commerce, said he visited with the owners Saturday morning (Aug. 8) after receiving about five emails during the previous week objecting to the T-shirts.
The T-shirts were no longer on display when he arrived, Gottula said.
“I went by there to see what was going on. I believe they sold out, from what they told me. They’re not going to order any more,” Gottula said.
“From what they said it was an anti-hate message, but obviously it doesn’t come across that way to some people,” he said.
“The symbol brings up a lot of animosity,” Gottula added. “The role of the chamber is to help foster a positive business climate.”
The store owners did not indicate how long the T-shirts had been offered for sale.
Among the emails received by Gottula was one from Molly Patterson, owner of Glover Street Market in Twisp, sent Aug. 4 to the Winthrop and Twisp chambers of commerce and town mayors.
Patterson said she interpreted the word “heritage” on the shirt to represent “the segregated South” and the flag symbol to stand for “racism” and “bigotry.”
“As a community member I am horrified that the T-shirts with the Confederate flag are being sold in the Methow Valley,” Patterson said. She suggested that town officials “ask that business members do not sell or display racist paraphernalia.”
The Facebook posting by Jasen Frelot, who shot the video, quickly went viral, generating comments on the Shotgun Nellies Facebook page, which was subsequently taken down.
It was shared on a blog site of The Stranger, a Seattle alternative weekly paper, and prompted a heated discussion — both attacking and defending Confederate symbolism — on YouTube, and comments on consumer review sites including YELP and TripAdvisor.
Shotgun Nellies’ owners called police at 1:24 p.m. on Aug. 5 when Frelot continued videotaping and entering the store after they had asked him to leave. Twisp Police Chief Paul Budrow responded, but said the man had left by the time Budrow arrived. Budrow said the store owners told him the man was “was threatening to destroy their business.”
Debate over the symbolism of the Confederate flag has been taking place throughout the nation this summer and has prompted the removal of the flag from government buildings and removal of Confederate flag merchandise from the shelves of retailers including Walmart, Sears and Amazon.
The current conversation about the flag — long a subject of controversy — began in the wake of the shooting of nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church last June in what federal investigators describe as a racially motivated hate crime committed by a man who posed for photographs before the shooting holding a Confederate flag.
