Meet the Guy Who Burns Confederate Flags at NASCAR Races
Stilp Gene
With a flourish   Stilp  sets his two-sided flag on fire and drops it in the trash can. âI consign this flag to the waste bin of history!â  Stilp  says as  he  is dramatically enveloped in white smoke.
Later  at a nearby diner   Stilp  smiles contentedly and reflects. "Today went well "  he  says before chomping into a veggie burger. This is hardly  his  first rodeo.  He  has been dubbed âthe P.T. Barnum of Pennsylvania politicsâ and is regularly referred to by friends and foes alike as a âmaster of political theater.â Stilpâwho lives in the Harrisburg areaâhas made a name for himself through a variety of creative  prop-laden  media-courting protest stunts. He's particularly well-known in the largely rural swath between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that folks call âPennsyltucky."
But with his Confederate/Nazi flag-burning demonstrations   Stilp  says  âYou donât bring humor to this at all. When you have Heather Heyer dying at the hands of a neo-Nazi  people who are flying these flags to represent hate and white supremacy  everything is 1 000 percent serious.â
âAll across Pennsylvania you see the Confederate flag on peopleâs porches  so we confront them with the true meaning â  Stilp  says. âIt puts them on the defensive. You know  show me why your Confederate flag isnât equal to the Nazi flag? Explain to me why. They say  âWe canât help it if itâs been adopted by the KKK and white supremacist groups.â But itâs not my job to walk it back to where you want it to be. Thatâs the present reality  and it always was a symbol of hate.â
 Stilp  says  he  was motivated to make and burn  his  two-sided flags after seeing white supremacists carrying both flags during the Charlottesville âUnite the Rightâ rally.  He  was also incensed by Scott Perryâa US congressman from mid-state Pennsylvaniaâechoing Trump in blaming âboth sidesâ for the associated violence and Heyerâs death.
 Stilp âs no stranger to flags.  He  designed the lauded Flight 93 memorial flag to honor those who perished near Shanksville  Pennsylvania  on 9/11. ( Stilp  is also a volunteer firefighter and EMT who rushed to Ground Zero immediately after the terrorist attacks to help conduct search and recovery efforts.)
 His  Confederate/Nazi flags each cost about $20  two hours of  his  time  and no small amount of angst to create. âI feel disgusted  disgusted  making these flags  cutting out these stars  gluing a swastika â  Stilp  grimaces. âBut I gotta do it.â
After a few protest burns in Pennsylvania in August and September   Stilp  and Facka decided to take things to another level by taking their flags and fire to the belly of the beast: NASCAR racetracks in the South.
Advance word of their arrival in the local papers and websites drew scores of comments: Desires for  Stilp  to get a bullet in the head were among the more polite and reserved sentiments expressed.
âEhh  fear is overrated â  Stilp  says. Citing his anti-nuclear protests going back to the 1970sâincluding piloting a Greenpeace hot-air balloon over government sites in Nevada to stop imminent tests  and numerous instances of arrests and beatdowns by authorities while demonstrating at various facilities âStilp  insists heâs been through worse. Heâs actually skeptical any harm will come to him.
âIâve been telling him that weâre in a different political climate now than heâs used to â Facka says as  Stilp  sighs and bites into his burger. âWeâre much more susceptible to that lone-wolf  that one crazy guy. So I do have a lot of fear  to be honest.â
âMaybe â says  Stilp . âSo what? Iâm 67âwho cares?! I just donât want the police who are protecting us to get hurt  thatâs all.â
 Stilp  plans to burn  his  flags outside courthouses in nearly all of Pennsylvaniaâs 67 counties in the coming months  and maybe head down South again when NASCAR season starts back up next year.
âPeople do email us and say  âThanks for doing that  I donât have the guts to do that.â and things like that  or  âPlease watch yourself. Donât get shot ââ  Stilp  says. âWeâre just trying to educate. Hopefully we can change some behavior. Maybe get some of these people to take down their flags  whether itâs enlightenment or shame or peer pressure from their neighborsâ¦ whatever it takes.â
With a flourish   Stilp  sets his two-sided flag on fire and drops it in the trash can. âI consign this flag to the waste bin of history!â  Stilp  says as  he  is dramatically enveloped in white smoke.
Later  at a nearby diner   Stilp  smiles contentedly and reflects. "Today went well "  he  says before chomping into a veggie burger. This is hardly  his  first rodeo.  He  has been dubbed âthe P.T. Barnum of Pennsylvania politicsâ and is regularly referred to by friends and foes alike as a âmaster of political theater.â Stilpâwho lives in the Harrisburg areaâhas made a name for himself through a variety of creative  prop-laden  media-courting protest stunts. He's particularly well-known in the largely rural swath between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that folks call âPennsyltucky."
But with his Confederate/Nazi flag-burning demonstrations   Stilp  says  âYou donât bring humor to this at all. When you have Heather Heyer dying at the hands of a neo-Nazi  people who are flying these flags to represent hate and white supremacy  everything is 1 000 percent serious.â
âAll across Pennsylvania you see the Confederate flag on peopleâs porches  so we confront them with the true meaning â  Stilp  says. âIt puts them on the defensive. You know  show me why your Confederate flag isnât equal to the Nazi flag? Explain to me why. They say  âWe canât help it if itâs been adopted by the KKK and white supremacist groups.â But itâs not my job to walk it back to where you want it to be. Thatâs the present reality  and it always was a symbol of hate.â
 Stilp  says  he  was motivated to make and burn  his  two-sided flags after seeing white supremacists carrying both flags during the Charlottesville âUnite the Rightâ rally.  He  was also incensed by Scott Perryâa US congressman from mid-state Pennsylvaniaâechoing Trump in blaming âboth sidesâ for the associated violence and Heyerâs death.
 Stilp âs no stranger to flags.  He  designed the lauded Flight 93 memorial flag to honor those who perished near Shanksville  Pennsylvania  on 9/11. ( Stilp  is also a volunteer firefighter and EMT who rushed to Ground Zero immediately after the terrorist attacks to help conduct search and recovery efforts.)
 His  Confederate/Nazi flags each cost about $20  two hours of  his  time  and no small amount of angst to create. âI feel disgusted  disgusted  making these flags  cutting out these stars  gluing a swastika â  Stilp  grimaces. âBut I gotta do it.â
After a few protest burns in Pennsylvania in August and September   Stilp  and Facka decided to take things to another level by taking their flags and fire to the belly of the beast: NASCAR racetracks in the South.
Advance word of their arrival in the local papers and websites drew scores of comments: Desires for  Stilp  to get a bullet in the head were among the more polite and reserved sentiments expressed.
âEhh  fear is overrated â  Stilp  says. Citing his anti-nuclear protests going back to the 1970sâincluding piloting a Greenpeace hot-air balloon over government sites in Nevada to stop imminent tests  and numerous instances of arrests and beatdowns by authorities while demonstrating at various facilities âStilp  insists heâs been through worse. Heâs actually skeptical any harm will come to him.
âIâve been telling him that weâre in a different political climate now than heâs used to â Facka says as  Stilp  sighs and bites into his burger. âWeâre much more susceptible to that lone-wolf  that one crazy guy. So I do have a lot of fear  to be honest.â
âMaybe â says  Stilp . âSo what? Iâm 67âwho cares?! I just donât want the police who are protecting us to get hurt  thatâs all.â
 Stilp  plans to burn  his  flags outside courthouses in nearly all of Pennsylvaniaâs 67 counties in the coming months  and maybe head down South again when NASCAR season starts back up next year.
âPeople do email us and say  âThanks for doing that  I donât have the guts to do that.â and things like that  or  âPlease watch yourself. Donât get shot ââ  Stilp  says. âWeâre just trying to educate. Hopefully we can change some behavior. Maybe get some of these people to take down their flags  whether itâs enlightenment or shame or peer pressure from their neighborsâ¦ whatever it takes.â