Sims stands a towering 6ft 5in (196cm), plus a few inches of unkempt afro. But this was Memorial Day – a 150-year-old national holiday in remembrance of soldiers fallen in service to the country – in Detroit, ground zero of racial tensions that 50 years ago this summer spilled over into one of the deadliest riots in the country’s history. Making such a controversial statement is certainly in keeping with the American spirit of free speech. “The flag should have died with the soldiers on the battlefield.” “We are de-zombifying the flag,” he said before the ceremony. It was part of an artistic performance Sims, 49, started 15 years ago, a symbolic banishing of the Confederate flag that has grown more radical, he said, with each injustice suffered by the black community.
More than 70 people attended the Confederate flag burning held at the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art in Detroit on Memorial Day
