Michigan black man, wife defend hanging nooses, Confederate flags
- 9 yıl önce
A suburban Detroit business owner and his wife who hung Confederate flags and nooses on their property insist that anyone who sees the actions as racist is “stupid.”
“I am not a racist,” Robert Tomanovich, owner of Robert’s Discount Tree Service in Livonia, Mich., told the Daily News Monday night.
“I know black guys, I have black friends. We’re all laughing at this stupidity. Do you know how many white guys were hung back in the day? This isn’t racist. But all of a sudden it’s out of control.”
Tomanovich , 55,made local headlines when WXYZ reported last Friday that Confederate flags and a noose were hanging outside two of his properties, one of which he uses for his tree-cutting business. The noose hung from a tree small enough for a child to scale.
The decorations have no connection to the racist history of the Confederacy, said his wife Lindy, rushing to his defense.
"Robert has a friend that died in that way (hanging himself), and that's in memory of his friend," she told WXYZ. "There's no crime in hanging a noose."
The noose and flags have drawn disgust from neighbors.
"One hundred fifty years after Abraham Lincoln's death, we are still going through this kind of atrocities. A hangman's noose and a Confederate flag?" neighbor Mary Greer said to WXYZ.
Once several neighbors shared their dismay, a second noose went up, the station reported.
One of Tomanovich’s employees, who wasn’t named, took credit for that one. When asked about the neighbors, the employee said, “Screw ‘em . . . We're gonna put more up.”
As for the Confederate flags, Tomanovich gave contradictory statements about his background and possible connections to the South.
He initially said he put up the flags because he was from “the South,” but then said he was from the Detroit area, then said again he hailed from the South and hung up the phone when asked to specify where.
In another phone interview, Tomanovich claimed he spent the first 30 years of his life in Pineville, Ky., shortly after saying he had run his Michigan business for 37 years.
“I like the Confederate flag, I like the colors,” he said in conclusion.
Tomanovich also said he has at least one black employee, and he claims WXYZ filmed this man but did not include him in its report. A WXYZ reporter said the news outlet chose not to include the man in the report because he wasn't "very credible."
The station noted that Tomanovich walked away from the reporter during an interview attempt.
“I left because I had two women in my house naked and I didn’t want them to see them,” Tomanovich told The News. “One of them was running around the house naked.”
Tomanovich said he has now taken down the nooses and flags, but offered no apologies to anyone offended.
“I don’t need to defend this to nobody. My business is doing very well,” he said. “I only want this story to get bigger. I want people to know I’m not a racist.”
“I am not a racist,” Robert Tomanovich, owner of Robert’s Discount Tree Service in Livonia, Mich., told the Daily News Monday night.
“I know black guys, I have black friends. We’re all laughing at this stupidity. Do you know how many white guys were hung back in the day? This isn’t racist. But all of a sudden it’s out of control.”
Tomanovich , 55,made local headlines when WXYZ reported last Friday that Confederate flags and a noose were hanging outside two of his properties, one of which he uses for his tree-cutting business. The noose hung from a tree small enough for a child to scale.
The decorations have no connection to the racist history of the Confederacy, said his wife Lindy, rushing to his defense.
"Robert has a friend that died in that way (hanging himself), and that's in memory of his friend," she told WXYZ. "There's no crime in hanging a noose."
The noose and flags have drawn disgust from neighbors.
"One hundred fifty years after Abraham Lincoln's death, we are still going through this kind of atrocities. A hangman's noose and a Confederate flag?" neighbor Mary Greer said to WXYZ.
Once several neighbors shared their dismay, a second noose went up, the station reported.
One of Tomanovich’s employees, who wasn’t named, took credit for that one. When asked about the neighbors, the employee said, “Screw ‘em . . . We're gonna put more up.”
As for the Confederate flags, Tomanovich gave contradictory statements about his background and possible connections to the South.
He initially said he put up the flags because he was from “the South,” but then said he was from the Detroit area, then said again he hailed from the South and hung up the phone when asked to specify where.
In another phone interview, Tomanovich claimed he spent the first 30 years of his life in Pineville, Ky., shortly after saying he had run his Michigan business for 37 years.
“I like the Confederate flag, I like the colors,” he said in conclusion.
Tomanovich also said he has at least one black employee, and he claims WXYZ filmed this man but did not include him in its report. A WXYZ reporter said the news outlet chose not to include the man in the report because he wasn't "very credible."
The station noted that Tomanovich walked away from the reporter during an interview attempt.
“I left because I had two women in my house naked and I didn’t want them to see them,” Tomanovich told The News. “One of them was running around the house naked.”
Tomanovich said he has now taken down the nooses and flags, but offered no apologies to anyone offended.
“I don’t need to defend this to nobody. My business is doing very well,” he said. “I only want this story to get bigger. I want people to know I’m not a racist.”