The town of Evansville was jolted Monday after a man chalked more than a dozen swastikas on the walkways around town hall and leveled aggressive accusations against city leaders to protest Pride flags displayed on city property.
Monday was the opening day of the community’s weeklong Pride celebrations.
After drawing the swastikas, Evansville resident Jeremy Brown marched into the regular town council meeting Monday evening and gave city leadership a tongue-lashing, threatening to keep drawing swastikas place his own swastika flags on city hall property if the Pride flags aren’t removed.
“I'm going to ask you to remove those flags out front and have the council draft an ordinance immediately stating the only flags to ever be on Evansville government property are flags related to government entities,” he said. “If the pride flags are not removed by the time my swastika flags that I ordered get here, I will plant them right beside those flags and … continue drawing [swastikas] on the sidewalk.”
Controversies over Pride events are playing out in many cities this month, creating clashes over free speech and town and city support for Pride events.
However, it’s uncharted territory for the town of Evansville, which until this month had never put up Pride flags and now finds itself in the difficult position of balancing a divide among residents who are simultaneously expressing both support and opposition to flags, Mayor Candance Machado told Cowboy State Daily.
An Evansville man drew more than a dozen swastikas on walkways around city hall and the police station Tuesday to protest LGBTQ Pride flags planted outside the buildings. He then told the town council he’ll keep drawing them until the Pride flags are gone. (Courtesy Mayor Candace Machado via Facebook) 
An Evansville man drew more than a dozen swastikas on walkways around city hall and the police station Tuesday to protest LGBTQ Pride flags planted outside the buildings. He then told the town council he’ll keep drawing them until the Pride flags are gone. (Courtesy Mayor Candace Machado via Facebook) 
An Evansville man drew more than a dozen swastikas on walkways around city hall and the police station Tuesday to protest LGBTQ Pride flags planted outside the buildings. He then told the town council he’ll keep drawing them until the Pride flags are gone. (Courtesy Mayor Candace Machado via Facebook)
Return Aggression
Brown’s actions were met with equally aggressive pushback from others in the Evansville community, where some quickly took aim on social media in a spate of posts that ranged from calls for unity to quasi threats against Brown.
“There are no parallels to draw between the Pride flag, which symbolizes love and inclusion, and a swastika, which signifies pretty all-encompassing hate towards a broad spectrum of demographics,” local resident Amber Bland commented on a post the mayor made about the swastikas. “There is no place for Nazis or Nazi sympathizers, white supremacy, or fascism here, or anywhere. Despicable.”
Brown drew six large swastikas in front of entrance doors prior to his public comments. Following his comments, he went back out and drew many more, encircling the town building and adjoining police department with the unmistakable symbol.
Machado said the decision to install Pride flags was hers alone and did not come from a city resolution.
The flags themselves are small, 6 inches in height and arrayed down the sidewalk. They were donated by a local nonprofit.
Still There
The flags remain in place at town hall.
“I don’t react one way or the other in terms of being the mayor,” Machado said. “In terms of being Candace the individual that lives in the state of Wyoming, my reaction is I find it alarming and inappropriate and unnecessary for an individual to feel as though they want to spread hate or discontent among their neighbors … and the community at large.”
The incident has put the Evansville Police Department on alert, as online comments hint at possible escalation of the situation.
On the heels of personal digs regarding Brown’s physique came a series of ominous allusions, including a comment by a resident who wrote, “The only good Nazi is a d##d one! Maybe he'll learn a lesson! Nazi scum is not welcome in our community!”
Another local expressed worry about the safety of public representatives.
“I am concerned for the safety of the mayor. This man is dangerous,” wrote a woman named Miranda Haigh on Machado’s post.
Other residents noted it was foolish to be so incendiary when the community knows who drew the swastikas “and where he lives.”
An Evansville man drew more than a dozen swastikas on walkways around city hall and the police station Tuesday to protest LGBTQ Pride flags planted outside the buildings. He then told the town council he’ll keep drawing them until the Pride flags are gone. On Tuesday, locals drew over the swastikas. (Zakary Sonntag, Cowboy State Daily) 
An Evansville man drew more than a dozen swastikas on walkways around city hall and the police station Tuesday to protest LGBTQ Pride flags planted outside the buildings. He then told the town council he’ll keep drawing them until the Pride flags are gone. On Tuesday, locals drew over the swastikas. (Zakary Sonntag, Cowboy State Daily)
Is Safety A Concern?
Evansville Police Chief Mike Thompson told Cowboy State Daily the town has never had to address an issue like this before, but the department is on alert and on guard for escalation.
“There’s a public safety component here and that’s something we’re taking note of,” he said. “We’re watching everything, the whole department is aware of it and we’re staying very vigilant.”
Thompson said if the protest goes beyond the use of chalk and becomes vandalism, it may qualify as defacement and result in criminal charges related to defacement. For now, the chalked swastikas are safely protected under First Amendment standards.
“If you say no to the First Amendment here, and somewhere down the road someone [makes] a different expression, where’s that threshold for first amendment expression?” Thompson rhetorically asked.
Brown had inquired with the town beforehand about the legality of chalking “peace symbols” on city property before taking his action, Thompson said. Evansville officials affirmed that such action is protected, although few have interpreted what he drew as peace symbols.
For now, the issue has transformed into a proxy war of art as community members fight chalk with chalk. Beginning Tuesday morning, residents began drawing over the swastikas with competing signs. By afternoon, all the swastikas had been covered over with other emblems, including peace symbols.
As to what may happen if Brown makes good on his promise to install swastika flags on city property, Machado would not comment directly.
“I do not support hate speech, bigotry or discrimination, but as the mayor of the town of Evansville, I support the Constitution,” she said. “I support the oath I took and the First Amendment of free speech.
“Do I agree with it, no. I’m trying to sit as neutral as I can in the role I’m sitting in, and right now that’s a very hard place to sit.”
Zakary Sonntag can be reached at zakary@cowboystatedaily.com.
