The Flaggers have a core group of about 50 active members in the Richmond area, but more than 500 people have attended events put on by the group, Jones said.At most, Matt Heimbach is one of the 500 who attended events put on by the Flaggers. He is not part of the core group of active members, as they are identified as being in the Richmond area and Heimbach is from Maryland.
Dave Tatum wrapped the whole issue up well in a Facebook post:
I've seen a number of pictures of Matthew,and to tell ya the truth, if he were to walk up to me on the street I wouldn't know who he was.Right on, Bro. Dave.
The floggers are gonna grasp an any negative item they can and fabricate a connection if one doesn't exist.
To tell ya the truth, I'm getting bored with all the Hoo Ha.
Yep some wack job has aligned himself with the Flaggers and taken advantage of a few photo ops.
I'm sure that every organization has a racist or two in it, that doesn't make the organization racist.
Little off topic, but the New York Times Civil War Blog also has a piece on Grant's fall in New Orleans. And their piece was posted first. Just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteSo what are you just sayin', Austin? That some folks aren't very ... original?
ReplyDeleteThis was in my 180DTS email but never showed up in the pending comments here on Blogger, so I'm coping and pasting. My apologies to the commenter. I don't know why it didn't come here.
ReplyDelete==============
From: mogwaione
Subject: Heimbach
Hi I have been enjoying the discussion over Matthew Heimbach. I was curious in what way you are associated with this Virginia Flagger group. It sounds like youre not a member, not a spokesperson and not formally attached but at the same time appear to have a large stake in public perception of the group. Matthew really has said some wild stuff in the past. I kinda do agree that not everybody should always be expected to repudiate everyone all the time. I also don't see any evidence that he really was ever a flagger. Well not in the capacity of a member of the Virginia Flaggers. I just think the overarching lesson is the perception people get by associations can sometimes be negative which is why people need to be aware if their associations. When those photos were taken of Heimbach I don't believe his idealogy had evolved to the point he's at now. I also don't think the flaggers knew at that time how quickly his ideology would morph. That's my two cents as an outsider. That being said, he's become, I feel, very radicalized in a very short period of time.