The Sudetenland will rise again
by Tom Sullivan
Last October, Asheville, NC introduced America to Don Yelton on The Daily Show. You remember? The clip where Aasif Mandvi asked Yelton, "You know that we can hear you, right?" after the Republican precinct chair's remark about "lazy blacks."
This October, it's a swastika photoshopped in front of city hall. Asheville is nothing if not colorful.
Known for its hipster arts scene, craft beer culture, and LGBT-friendly atmosphere, Asheville was dubbed "a cesspool of sin" in 2011 by James Forrester, the late Republican state senator. (You could buy tee shirts within hours.) As local gay couples on Thursday anticipated a federal order allowing same-sex marriages for the first time in North Carolina, city council members approved displaying a large rainbow flag from city hall. The local register's office began issuing licenses late Friday.
So once more unto the breach, two Republican culture warriors — both known for publicity stunts — stepped up to strike back by photoshopping a Nazi flag in place of an image of the rainbow flag. The Sudetenland will rise again or something.
The two Republicans, former city councilman Carl Mumpower and former Buncombe County GOP chairman Chad Nesbitt, criticized the move saying the Asheville City Council's decision to fly the flag (the council voted unanimously to display it) violated North Carolina open meeting laws.
"I am equating their methods with the Nazi movement," Mumpower said according to the North Carolina newspaper. "They are indifferent to the rule of law and indifferent to the vote of the people. And that's Adolph [sic] Hitler all over again in a different disguise."
These proud, local characters stand as living proof that hippies and fall leaves are not the only local color in town.