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Talkback: KKK flag reaction
How would you feel if you saw a flag flying high everyday that simply said KKK. The people of Oquawka see one everyday. And one biracial family that lives in town wants it down.
Rebel Ruberg has it hung in his yard and says it is his right even though it stands for hate. Cathy and Tejai Burgdorf say they want to speak out for the other people in Oquawka that think it should come down but are afraid to speak out. What do you think?
OQUAWKA, Illinois -
Last week we brought you the story of an Oquawka, Illinois man, who flies a KKK flag in his backyard. And there is one family who wants it gone.
The Burgdorfs are an Oquawka family that says that flag symbolizes hate, a hate they say shouldn't be celebrated. It hits too close to home since Tejai Burgdorf is biracial.
Tejai Burgdorf sings in his grandmother's living room a song he wrote, "Will I ever know where you are? Do you care that I wonder?"
He is a country singer and writer. This song is about the black father that left him when he was 6 months old. He is being raised by his white mother, a person he admits is very proud of him.
He says, "I'm smarter than a lot of kids my age should be."
That's because of what he has had to face living in an almost all white community.
"The bus, the school bus the old ones have the red emergency exit bars underneath the window--I had my head slammed into those twice."
His mother, Cathy Burgdorf, wouldn't stand for that attack or the many other verbal and physical ones he experienced.
She says, "You have to stand up for yourself. You have to at least not backdown and get beat up, or even worse go to the teachers that didn't help. It was hard you know it's still hard."
And what doesn't help is a KKK flag flying in Rebel Ruberg's yard in town.
Cathy Burgdorf says, "It really hit home with me really, really hard and if I can put a voice out there for other people that feel the same way I do that are afraid to come out and say anything about then so be it."
Because while Rebel may say it about protecting our borders, she says it represents so much more.
"The KKK what did they do what were they known for? For hanging the blacks from the trees, for burning crosses, for burning down homes they were known for destruction and hurting people."
And this isn't the only form of racism her son has had to deal with she says,
"He has other interests. He's thrown himself into his music, I home school him so he can stay away from there, him not having friends is so hard."
13-year-old, Tejai, wants to see the flag gone.
"Take it down. Take it down."
And he says he wants one thing to come out of this interview.
"I hope he can see what he's saying is wrong. I hope a lot of them can see what he is saying is wrong and fess up to it."
But can someone with a KKK flag care about the hurt he brings to a biracial child?
Tejai song ends with, "Will you ever think of me?"
I gave Rebel Ruberg an opportunity to answer the question in light of this story--would he take the flag down. He answered, "No, I will not do it for the simple fact that person that's got their biracial child that they took out school--that's because those are kids they're just kids out there it's just kids being kids."
When I first did this story last week there were people in Oquawka who responded online to it and who stand on both sides behind Rebel's right to fly the flag because of free speech and others that are adamantly against it because of what it means.
We visited Oquawka because of an anonymous complaint. And for four years it flew without anyone speaking out.
The Burgdorfs are an Oquawka family that says that flag symbolizes hate, a hate they say shouldn't be celebrated. It hits too close to home since Tejai Burgdorf is biracial.
Tejai Burgdorf sings in his grandmother's living room a song he wrote, "Will I ever know where you are? Do you care that I wonder?"
He is a country singer and writer. This song is about the black father that left him when he was 6 months old. He is being raised by his white mother, a person he admits is very proud of him.
He says, "I'm smarter than a lot of kids my age should be."
That's because of what he has had to face living in an almost all white community.
"The bus, the school bus the old ones have the red emergency exit bars underneath the window--I had my head slammed into those twice."
His mother, Cathy Burgdorf, wouldn't stand for that attack or the many other verbal and physical ones he experienced.
She says, "You have to stand up for yourself. You have to at least not backdown and get beat up, or even worse go to the teachers that didn't help. It was hard you know it's still hard."
And what doesn't help is a KKK flag flying in Rebel Ruberg's yard in town.
Cathy Burgdorf says, "It really hit home with me really, really hard and if I can put a voice out there for other people that feel the same way I do that are afraid to come out and say anything about then so be it."
Because while Rebel may say it about protecting our borders, she says it represents so much more.
"The KKK what did they do what were they known for? For hanging the blacks from the trees, for burning crosses, for burning down homes they were known for destruction and hurting people."
And this isn't the only form of racism her son has had to deal with she says,
"He has other interests. He's thrown himself into his music, I home school him so he can stay away from there, him not having friends is so hard."
13-year-old, Tejai, wants to see the flag gone.
"Take it down. Take it down."
And he says he wants one thing to come out of this interview.
"I hope he can see what he's saying is wrong. I hope a lot of them can see what he is saying is wrong and fess up to it."
But can someone with a KKK flag care about the hurt he brings to a biracial child?
Tejai song ends with, "Will you ever think of me?"
I gave Rebel Ruberg an opportunity to answer the question in light of this story--would he take the flag down. He answered, "No, I will not do it for the simple fact that person that's got their biracial child that they took out school--that's because those are kids they're just kids out there it's just kids being kids."
When I first did this story last week there were people in Oquawka who responded online to it and who stand on both sides behind Rebel's right to fly the flag because of free speech and others that are adamantly against it because of what it means.
We visited Oquawka because of an anonymous complaint. And for four years it flew without anyone speaking out.
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