so we're here with Shawn Porter who as
many know has entered the flag redesign
competition here in Frederick County now
Shawn has a big update and he's going to
tell us about what that update is right
now so what's what's new well I've been
contacted by the 275 flag redesign
committee which is a group of government
officials and people who receive
government money uh they let me know
last night that uh my anti-slavery flag
would not even be considered by the
citizens of Frederick County that no one
would be able to see it or vote on it
and they were suppressing uh my my
artwork my political art dare I say uh
because it's an anti-slavery uh flag
design they didn't like it and they
silenced it and the the three designs
that they chose to move forward are
actually uglier than the ugliest of the
ones that I saw that they disqualified
which I got through Public Information
Act request with the county attorney's
office so you've seen the flag and you
you you do like the flag yeah the flag
is beautiful it's beautiful right it's
absolutely beautiful so talk about the
artistic value and the political value
of the flag that you submitted the
political value is clear it's an
anti-slavery flag in a basically a
county that uh had Confederates
occupying it had the unions uh claiming
it there's a lot of history about the
Civil War we have the monoy battlefield
as you well know uh it has historical
significance that way um the political
significance is clear now the artistic
significance is only going to be shown
when you actually show the folks how
beautiful this was it had Scenic
mountains in the background uh it it had
great color scheme it had the sun
looking beautiful it was my heartfelt
artwork do you think that this flag
could legit Ely take place of our
current Francis Scott Key
flag why not and it should and why not
but at this point it's not given that
opportunity so why do you think a panel
of Judges or insiders as I like to refer
to them as why do you think that they
would not want to see your flag which
obviously has symbolism which is to the
abolition of slavery why do you think
that they would not want to see that
move forward the only thing I can think
of is that J Fitzwater and the Council
of Frederick County supports slavery I'm
a racist I believe she's for slavery
because she's she's scared of change or
she doesn't want change or whatever the
case may be she's all for it that's
literally the only thing I can think of
is that they literally support slavery
MH why why do you think that is well
because they disqualified an
anti-slavery flag after this 275
committee this group of people in our
government after they disqualified a
flag that relates to the abolition of
slavery what should their future be what
future and where that's what I'm asking
you they should be at McDonald's saying
welcome to McDonald's M they definitely
shouldn't have that power that position
of power how do you think your flag
would perform in the public voting phase
if it were to move forward oh I would
win hands down there is no doubt my flag
design was so much prettier than the
other ones it was super cute but you
seriously think that this is the flag
that could represent the citizens of
Frederick County why not yeah if you're
not behind this flag you must be behind
something else what's unfair is that the
government has silenced My Free Speech
my artistic free expression my political
sentiments against slavery they just
they just squashed it like a bug they
they had no care no thought they showed
Reckless disregard for me as a person as
an individual and as a citizen they they
literally just took my dreams and dashed
them I had dreams and aspirations to be
the Flag Designer for Frederick County
and they just squashed them and didn't
give it to the people to vote on they
they sought out to disqualify anything
they didn't like and apparently they
don't like anyone that condemns slavery
and and just it just makes sense to me
that it it it's really clear that
Jessica Fitzwater and the County Council
support slavery so you think this is a
violation of your civil rights is
clearly a violation of my first
amendment protected free speech and I'm
going to name individually the the every
single member of the flag committee and
they're all going to get served it's
this this mess is going to be subjected
to judicial review as far as I can take
it and as far as uh my resources will
go so now we are speaking with longtime
resident farmer Jim he is going to share
his input on the
redesigning of the Francis Scott Key
Frederick County flag my dad was a
farmer all his life I was a farmer most
of my life we worked through the ground
um you know we know Freddy County we
love Freddy County um I was not aware of
the redesign of the flag um until of
course my friend Shan brought it to my
attention um I was never asked if if I
didn't like the flag or if I want a new
flag I don't know if anybody has ever
been asked if we want to redesign the
flag um I I have saw the website where
the the um people have put in uh new
designs for the flag and all all of them
look stupid I mean I mean what reason is
there to redesign a flag why would any
County Executive want to spend one
taxpayer dime on a project that nobody
asked for I mean there's plenty of other
ways to spend money I mean uh H history
is history uh the flag is history Why
Try To Change history it's tradition all
right so now we are on the phone with
Frederick County resident Eric Beasley
Eric thank you for joining us the first
thing I wanted to ask you was your
opinion of the fact that Shawn Porter's
flag has been
disqualified from the public voting part
of the flag competition what do you
what's your take on that well if I
remember right didn't his flag say
something about like slavery so I mean
is if if we were to adopt the uh you
know the liberal Playbook that would
mean that our County Executive and a
majority of our County Employees do in
support racism uh because that's usually
how they that's their playbook and how
they Define things so we should just
throw it right back in their face so do
you
think that Shawn Porter's flag should
have made it to the second round of
public
voting so I think it was a this whole
thing was a terrible idea because
specifically because of people exactly
like Shawn Porter this the county
decided to make themselves The Arbiter
of what is of what speech is appropriate
and given a public venue what else are
people like Sean tter going to do
they're going to make a flag that you
would never put through into the second
round and the fact that you didn't was
exactly his point so at this point quite
frankly the only way for the county to
recover from this would be to take all
of the flag submissions and put them
into one big giant flag which would
probably just end up looking like a big
giant pie piece of dooo and that becomes
our new County flag so you think that
this whole Frederick County flag
redesign situation you think this was
doomed from the start this should have
been a process that never started
without some sort of surveying
measurement prior like a vote something
this should have we shouldn't have even
started this well so let's just be fair
I don't believe that any government
should exist so I don't actually believe
that the freder County government should
exist in the first place to be able to
make dumb decision like this but since
we're there yes 100% doomed from the
start now that we are in this
predicament the predicament that we're
in where we have all these flag
submissions you know Shawn Porter is
outraged about the fact that his flag
doesn't get to move forward many people
are upset that we're even here in the
first place what should the county
executive do about this situation as we
stand here today considering she's the
one who basically start of this process
by way of executive
order so what we should do and what
she's going to do are very are two very
different things so what she's going to
do is she's just going to move forward
and completely ignore shot okay that's
what every government entity in federick
County does when they trample on
people's speech on any of their civil
rights they just move forward pretend
like it didn't happen and then in just
like with the uh um the vegan protesters
the city just pays them money later
writes them a $50,000 check and quite
frankly that's probably what's gonna
happen here what's probably gonna happen
is that Fitzwater is quite frankly the
count is gonna lose that lawsuit if
Porter is able to push it forward and
and we're so we're just gonna end up
paying him because he wanted to make a
joke and have his flag up there so you
know that's what the government does
they make bad choices that's why I don't
like the government right period
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