Michigan Senator Apologizes After Wearing Confederate Flag Patterned Mask

Source: Mitch Diamond / Getty

Michigan Senator Dale Zorn (a Republican, in case you wondered) is apologizing after wearing a mask that appeared to depict the Confederate flag to Friday’s Senate vote at the state capitol in Lansing, according to the Guardian. As you can probably imagine, he got quite a reaction from the people of Michigan. And not a positive one.

Zorn initially defended the mask, saying his wife had made it and that it actually depicted the flag of Tennessee or Kentucky, not the Confederate flag.

“I told my wife it probably will raise some eyebrows, but it was not a Confederate flag,” Zorn told Lansing TV station WLNS on Friday.

He then added: “Even if it was a Confederate flag, you know, we should be talking about teaching our national history in schools and that’s part of our national history and it’s something we can’t just throw away because it is part of our history.”

When Zorn was asked what the meaning of the Confederate flag is, he replied “the Confederacy”.

Zorn issued an apology on Saturday — AFTER incurring plenty of ire for the offense.

“I’m sorry for my choice of pattern on the face mask I wore yesterday on the Senate floor,” Zorn tweeted. “I did not intend to offend anyone; however, I realize that I did, and for that I am sorry. Those who know me best know that I do not support the things this pattern represents, My actions were an error in judgment for which there are no excuses and I will learn from this episode.”

SMH… He’ll learn from this alright. When his term is up it will be interesting to see how much his constituents have learned from this too.

Then again, Michigan is one of those states with dummies out in the streets protesting stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. Zorn and his colleagues met Friday to vote on measures that would increase oversight of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer’s powers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Zorn has said he supported bipartisan oversight of Whitmer’s actions.