Taunton man says he has every right to fly Confederate flag in his yard

TAUNTON, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) - It is a heated issue across the country and is coming to a head in a Massachusetts town where a man has been flying a confederate flag for years.

A city councilwoman in Taunton raised concerns after the issue got national attention in the wake of the South Carolina murders. The man agreed to take it down at first, but he's flying it again and he's not backing down.

"I was surprised, I was very surprised,” Sherry Costa Hanlon, a Taunton City Councilor, said. "Especially after what happened in South Carolina. I thought there has been so much education about this. At this point people can't really honestly say they don't know that it upsets people and there is a part of it that represents white supremacy and racism."

But the homeowner, Edward Filipiak, said that's not the case at all.

"I'm not a racist, I'm nowhere near a racist. You can talk to anyone around here I'm not a racist,” he said.

Filipiak owns the home -- and the flag.  He said it's up there representing the historical south and his love for southern culture.

“The respect, the yes sir, yes ma'am, hold the doors for people, stop for pedestrians, all that,” he said.

The flag has been flying outside Filipiak's home for 14 years and up until now nobody has said anything.

"It just doesn't belong in Taunton. It's not who we are in Taunton,” Costa Hanlon said.

But, Costa Hanlon said, she understands the town cannot make him take it down.

“It's his right to fly it as along as he understands that people like myself will look at him and think that he harbors white supremacy tendencies,” she said.

Filipiak said part of the reason he decided to put it back up is because he has the right to.

"I was going to leave it down but then I thought about it and I'm tired of giving my rights up. My kids can't say the pledge of allegiance in school, they can't pray in school, they can't say God bless America because somebody doesn't like it. What's the next thing, you don't like the color of my car so I have to change that?" he said.

Cox Media Group