ALBERT LEA, Minn. — A firefighter who was suspended for flying a Confederate flag on a fire truck during a July 4th weekend parade has been fired.
“Wednesday I got a call to have me turn in my pager, meaning that they let me go or fired me, terminated me out,” firefighter Brian Nielsen said.
Nielsen said he made a call to the city for an explanation on why he was fired. He said he is still waiting on a call back.
Days after the parade, Nielsen was suspended pending an investigation into the incident.
The chamber of commerce organized the parade and said it had no prior knowledge that Nielsen planned to fly the flag. Randy Kehr, the chamber’s executive director, said he didn’t know ahead of time that the Southern flag would be flown, and, if he had, “I would probably have asked [Nielsen] respectfully not to fly it.”
On Saturday, Confederate flag advocates held a rally to educate people about why they chose to fly the flag, ABC6 News reported. Advocates said the flag is about heritage, not about hate. Some say they are advocating because they had family members fight for the flag.
“I think if you see it as racist than you’re probably racist yourself. This is about heritage not hate for the southern folk,” Nielsen said.