We, the undersigned citizens, hereby petition the Lorain County Fair Board to permanently ban the sale of Confederate flags at the Lorain County Fair, beginning with the 2021 fair season.

Among the multitude of disturbing images that were broadcast around the globe during the deadly domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, one of the most pernicious was the sight of an insurrectionist carrying the Confederate flag through the halls of the greatest democracy in the world. Make no mistake: This offensive symbol of a divided country—a symbol of hate—has left a stain on our nation’s consciousness that will take tremendous effort and resolve to remove. Let this resolution be the first step.

For five years now, grassroots efforts have attempted to educate and persuade members of the fair board to recognize what other Ohio counties, the Ohio State Fair, and even Southern institutions such as NASCAR, have acknowledged: that a symbol of hate and division has no place at the Lorain County Fair. Those efforts have fallen on deaf ears. The time for hiding behind the disingenuous cloaks of “Civil War memorabilia” and “historical artifacts”—the time for invoking the First Amendment in service to racial violence—must end now.

Please help by signing this petition, so we can send this message throughout Lorain County: symbols of hate, far-right violence, and racism have no place here.