Democrats Condemn Carman's Embrace of Confederate Flag

(Egg Harbor Township) Today, the Atlantic County Democrats condemned Freeholder John Carman’s embrace of the Confederate flag. In various pictures on Facebook over the years, including one from just last month, Carman is shown wearing a Confederate flag patch on his vest.

“The Confederate flag is a symbol of hate and bigotry, pure and simple. For many of our friends in the African-American community, the sight of it puts knots in their stomachs," said Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman. “After posting misogynist memes on Facebook in the winter, I thought I’d seen it all, but Freeholder Carman never ceases to amaze me.”

Race historian and Brown University professor Matthew Guterl once said in an interview, "Wearing the flag or celebrating it, putting it on your car window or coffee table in your house, it's a reminder to everyone, to every guest, to every person who sees it, black or white, that you are a stakeholder in the Confederate history of the South, and therefore the defense of slavery and racial prejudice. No one is immune to this."

This isn't the first time John Carman has gotten himself in trouble. In January, he posted two misogynist memes on Facebook the day of the Women's March in Washington and then waited four days to offer a tepid apology.