Michigan State Sen. Dale Zorn has apologized after initially defending his decision to wear a confederate flag face mask during a Senate vote Friday afternoon.

When local news outlet WLNS first asked Zorn about the mask, he was steadfast, repeatedly changing his answers during the interview.

At first, the Republican lawmaker claimed it wasn't a confederate flag on his mask but then went on to defend the Confederacy. Even though he had it on during the Senate vote, he took it off and replaced it with a generic face mask after the session.

“I told my wife it probably will raise some eyebrows, but it was not a confederate flag. Even if it was a confederate flag, you know, we should be talking about teaching our national history in schools and that’s part of our national history and it’s something we can’t just throw away because it is part of our history," Zorn told WLNS. "And if we want to make sure that the atrocities that happened during that time doesn’t happen again, we should be teaching it. Our kids should know what that flag stands for."

He later apologized for the fiasco on Twitter.

2/2:

My actions were an error in judgment for which there are no excuses and I will learn from this episode.

— Dale W. Zorn (@DaleZornSenate) April 25, 2020

Republican activists across the country have avidly used confederate flags and Confederacy regalia during protests against efforts by local governments to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

In one of the first protests last week, Michigan residents waved confederate flags and even Nazi flags to show their anger at Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who introduced emergency orders to try to keep people safe from the virus, BuzzFeed reported.

The decision by Zorn and others to use the confederate flag in their protest has rankled many, particularly Black people who are disproportionately dying from the coronavirus.

I can’t let this go. We are in a global pandemic and he is a legislator in a state where black people are dying at the highest rate, and his wife decided to sew him a Confederate flag mask to wear to the legislature? As @AdamSerwer said so well: The cruelty is the point.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) April 25, 2020

The Washington Post noted that in Michigan, Black people are just 14% of the population yet account for more than 40% of COVID-19-related deaths.

Michigan’s first Black lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist, railed against Zorn in an interview, calling the Republican's actions “appalling and disgusting” during an interview on MSNBC.

"As someone who has fought for civil rights his entire life…as the first Black lieutenant governor in the history of Michigan, as the first Black person to preside over the Michigan state Senate, it was appalling and disgusting to see a confederate flag chosen as the face mask by a sitting state senator," he said on MSNBC Saturday evening.

“To see those confederate flags and swastikas in the Capitol last week shows you what this was really all about. This was not about protesting orders to stay home and stay safe. This was about politics and partisanship. That was a Trump rally,” Gilchrist added.

Despite tepid criticism from some Republicans, other Michigan Democrats tweeted out their disgust for the lawmaker.

The Confederate flag should never be worn, especially by an elected official.

Don't split hairs on this w/ excuses about flags vs. bandanas.

It dishonors our fellow Michiganders.

It dishonors the battle flags in our rotunda.

It dishonors our state.https://t.co/7m4S0wUNaA

— Jeff Irwin (@JeffMIrwin) April 24, 2020

At a time when tensions are high and Michiganders are dying, this is a terrible distraction from the conversations we are having about how to save more lives.

— Senator Jim Ananich (@jimananich) April 25, 2020

"I’m disappointed that the Senate Republican leadership hasn’t (censure or denounced) that yet and I hope they step up and do the right thing. To openly choose to wear a symbol of bigotry, hatred, oppression and racism in this moment when people need to come together in the state of Michigan and across the country is reprehensible and unacceptable," Gilchrist said.

Garlin-Gilchrist

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