GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Area NAACP branches have called for the resignation of state Sen. Dale Zorn, R-Ida, for wearing a mask that appeared to depict the Confederate flag.
Zorn, who wore the mask on the Senate floor, apologized after coming under heavy criticism.
“We just cannot allow this type of behavior to go unchecked,” Cle Jackson, president of the Greater Grand Rapids NAACP branch, told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.
The Greater Grand Rapids, Muskegon County, Metropolitan Kalamazoo, Lake-Newaygo and Albion branches of the NAACP called for the “resignation of State Senator Dale Zorn, who wore a confederate flag into the state capitol as a mask, denied any wrongdoing, then issued an apology after an immense amount of public backlash.
“One week later, White Supremacists and racists began their fear and hyper-intimidation tactics, with malicious protests on the State Capitol to influence an economic agenda in direct contrast to the public health agenda laid out by Governor (Gretchen) Whitmer.”
The NAACP branches, in a statement, also shared support for Whitmer and her efforts fight the coronavirus.
Black people in Michigan have been particularly hard-hit by COVID-19. While comprising 14.1 percent of the state’s population, they account for 32 percent of COVID-19 cases and 41 percent of deaths.
“This is representative of the gross negligence by the Michigan Legislature that Michigan citizens experience, and continue to experience, evidenced by the Flint Water Crisis,” the statement said.
The NAACP branches also want safeguards put in place to protect workers as the economy begins to re-open “since people of color and lower income communities are at-risk populations who, mostly, do not have the option to work from home.”
The NAACP branches “are unitedly throwing support behind Governor Whitmer as she leads the state through the pandemic response.”
They denounced “the waving of Confederate flags, Swastikas and threatening signs aimed at the Governor.”
Protesters have gone to the state Capitol to demand the state be re-opened in response to Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders.
Jackson, the Greater Grand Rapids NAACP president, said he defends everyone’s right to free speech but said it appeared that some armed protesters wanted to intimidate. He said it was “divisive” and “uncalled for,” especially during a “public-health pandemic.”
He said that other NAACP branches across the state share the view that Zorn, who represents the 17th State Senate District, including Lenawee and Monroe counties, should step down.
“He represents the 17th District but he also represents the entire state of Michigan,” Jackson said.
The Lenawee County NAACP, in a Facebook post, also called for Zorn to resign.
Zorn has apologized for the mask that appeared to depict a Confederate flag. In an April 25 statement, he said: “I’m sorry for my choice of pattern on the face mask I wore yesterday on the Senate floor. … 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.”
Initially, Zorn told WLNS-TV 6 in Lansing that the mask, made by his wife, did not depict the Confederate flag, rather it depicted the state flag of Kentucky or Tennessee.
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