Zemer's Does Brisk Business in spite of Confederate Flag Protest

Image: Josh Jackson (left) and Tre Webb, who came to observe the protest outside the Zemer’s Homemade Rootbeer booth

By about 3 pm today, Councilmember Ruth Beier decided to close down the protest she organized outside of the Zemer’s Homemade Rootbeer booth in downtown East Lansing. Beier’s protest aimed at convincing potential patrons not to purchase from Chris Zemer because he has intermittently posted a confederate flag in his booth at the Great Lakes Folk Festival. (Read our earlier reports here and here.)

Beier told me that, given the increasingly long lines at Zemer’s, and given that only about one out of ten customers was being swayed to turn away, she felt it had become pointless. “We were losing more than we were winning,” she told me, “and with my organizing experience, I recognized that this was better for them than it was for us. I was actually providing a venue for racism, so I wrapped it up.” (Article continues after photo.)

Over the course of the day-long protest, about five people had come to help Beier and her partner Terry Scharf in the protest, with a few others coming to supportively observe. The protest strategy had been to hand people a card that read, “I want to buy a root beer, but I don’t tolerate hate, so I will spend my money elsewhere.” But East Lansing police officers repeatedly told the protestors they could not legally hand out the flyers, and Scharf told me they had been scared to carry out the protest as planned.

At one point, Chris Zemer allegedly threw water on Beier and City Pulse publisher Berl Schwartz. Beier and Schwartz subsequently let the police know they were filing assault charges against Zemer.

I spoke with Josh Jackson and Tre Webb (shown in lead photo), who supportively witnessed the protest. Both said they were grateful for the protest—that it was “great”—but concerned about the display of the confederate flag at a public event in East Lansing. Both saw the flag display as possibly being a hostile response to the Black Lives Matters movement, which seeks to draw attention to and end police brutality towards Black Americans.

Jackson, who works at Noodles & Company just steps away from the protest, agreed with Webb that people in East Lansing would probably not tolerate someone showing up at the Folk Festival in a Hitler costume. Webb said they were working to “stay positive,” even while the line of light-skinned people at Zemer’s booth grew long.

Webb told me he felt the display of the flag was “kind of a slap in the face, in a way.” He added, “I mean it is America, there’s freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and all those things, but you’ve got to understand what [the confederate flag] represented and what it means.” Asked what he thought the flag stood for, Webb said, “I believe it stands for the promotion of slavery….the willingness to continue its endurance.”

I also spoke to a 14-year-old boy who identifies as multiracial who was talking to Webb and Jackson. (I am not printing his name because of his age.) He told me he bought a root beer from Zemer’s before knowing about the flag and the protest. He said he now wasn’t sure what to think: “I feel like why would I want to ruin him financially if he sells something good that I like, just because of what he believes in? I wouldn’t go up to, say, a Jewish person and say, ‘I’m not going to buy any of your goods because you’re Jewish and I don’t support Jewish people.’”

Beier was the only Councilmember to show up to protest, although Councilmember Susan Woods and Mayor Nathan Triplett were seen at the festival enjoying the music. Around 3:15 pm, Dee Jordan caught up with Triplett at the performance by Masters of Harmony, an African-American male a capella gospel group, to tell Triplett about her concerns, but I was unable to talk with either of them to find out what transpired. Jordan is the MSU graduate student who raised concerns to Council starting on Friday night. (Below, Jordan talking to Triplett this afternoon; article continues after photo.)

Beier told me she was surprised Triplett did not come to the scene of the protest. Today, Beier was wearing the “Take on Hate” shirt that Triplett and other Councilmembers wore during last week’s presentation on the “Take on Hate” resolution—a resolution aimed at stopping discrimination and hateful acts from being directed at Muslim and Arab Americans. (Triplett signed the resolution on behalf of Council in June.)

MSU Constitutional scholar Michael Lawrence, J.D., came down to the protest and spoke with police officers about the question of whether or not the protestors could hand out their leaflets. (Lawrence is a board member of ELi.) Lawrence informed the police that the law is unequivocal on the right.

Lawrence later noted that another leafletter at the Festival, whom I subsequently identified as Yvonne LeFave, was handing out papers advertising the Old Town General Store without harassment from the police. I spoke with LeFave and she confirmed this, and said that when she had checked with festival organizers, she was told there was no permit required and individuals were free to hand out flyers. Lawrence told me that this showed the protesters enjoyed the same rights as others to leaflet without being stopped by police.

Beier told me she did think she ultimately succeeded today because “we convinced a lot of people not to shop at this vendor. Unfortunately, we got a lot of negative feedback, too. People think it’s fine to display the confederate flag, understanding it stands for racism and hatred.”

Beier said she will work as a Councilmember with MSU to ensure that Zemer’s is not back at next year’s festival. MSU’s festival organizers have declined our request for a formal statement on the situation.

Okemos resident Kim Ellinwood (shown below) came to the protest with his handmade sign. Ellinwood told me in a phone interview, “I see the confederate flag as hate speech. It represents slavery and racism and I find it very offensive.” He added, “How many more people have to die before we ban this flag as hate speech?”

UPDATE, August 9, 5:20 pm: After this article was published, we heard back from Lora Helou, Acting Director of the MSU Museum, which manages the festival. She wrote: "we identified the flag display, also received visitor comments Friday night, asked the vendor the remove the display, and he did so. When we learned about the planned demonstration, we worked with COEL to monitor and respond, if warranted. I don't know how much more help I can be to you. I have heard differing accounts and accusations as I'm sure you have too, and I am not in a position to respond without first-hand knowledge. Our focus is on running this public event, and then quickly returning the streets and parking lots back over to the city."