27 Jul 2020

Rotorua Stockcar Club will no longer fly Confederate Flag

From First Up, 5:52 am on 27 July 2020

The Rotorua Stockcar club will no longer fly the Confederate Flag, after more than 1000 people signed a petition calling on them to stop using it. At the club's AGM yesterday members decided to design a new flag, that they say will reflect the pride and honour of past and present teams. In a statement, the club said that for 35 years they used the Confederate flag to acknowledge the battles that come with team racing and to recognise the courageous efforts of their drivers, but recent events have reignited the original meaning of the flag. That was laid out to them in an email sent by the man who started the petition, Benjamin Aulakh. He told them "the symbol is synonymous with white supremacy, the Ku Klux Klan, and the oppression of generations of African Americans". Benjamin joined Indira to discuss.