--- description: A Minnesota firefighter has been suspended after flying a Confederate battle flag from the back of a fire truck during a parade last week. title: Minnesota Firefighter Suspended for Flying Confederate Flag During Parade image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Race](/tag/race/) ## Race Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Minnesota Firefighter Suspended for Flying Confederate Flag During Parade by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 6, 2015 12:29 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 6, 2015 12:29 PM CUT A Minnesota volunteer firefighter [has been suspended](http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/07/05/minn-firefighter-suspended-after-flying-confederate-flag-during-parade/ "undefined") after flying a Confederate battle flag from the back of a fire truck during a parade last week. Brian Nielsen, a southern Minnesota volunteer firefighter, told the local CBS affiliate he would resign from the Hartland Fire Department if asked to do so. “I will out of respect for them, yes I will,” Nielsen said, apologizing for the negative attention the town is getting. “I’m sorry I hurt my city and hurt the fire department.” Nielsen chose to wave the Confederate flag from the back of a Hartland Fire Department truck during the local Albert Lea’s Third of July Parade. He told reporters he is not racist, but that he’s standing against political correctness. > [](https://twitter.com/demoerke/status/617446867505385472) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/"},"headline":"Minnesota Firefighter Suspended for Flying Confederate Flag During Parade","datePublished":"2015-07-06T12:29:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:58:49.779Z","description":"He said he's not racist, but is standing against political correctness","url":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/","keywords":["Race","Confederate Flag"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/race/","name":"Race"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/","name":"Minnesota Firefighter Suspended for Flying Confederate Flag During Parade"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Many Flags With Confederate Ties Are Still Flying","description":"Many people call the Confederate flag offensive, but there are other flags with ties to the Confederacy that aren't being examined as closely.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/iqcMv6a1/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-23T20:24:08.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iqcMv6a1.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/","duration":"PT2M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3946401/confederate-flag-minnesota-firefighter-suspended/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```