Hello, very confused non-Michiganders wondering wtf all these Confederate Battle Flags are doing at a protest in Lansing, MI.
Allow me to chat a bit about the demographics/history/culture of The Superior State.

First of all, yes, we had over 14,000 troops die fighting for the Union. But the history of Michigan, and its culture and demographics could be, roughly, split between time Before Henry Ford and After Henry Ford.

When Michigan shifted from Agriculture and Resource Extraction being the biggest industries to Manufacturing, it experienced an influx of migration, from foreign countries and from other parts of the country. Nearly every modern Michigander is descended from those migrants.

To illustrate this, of my child's great grandparents, only three were born in Michigan. Of those three, one was the child of immigrants. Our family would not exist if it weren't for The Great Migration. Especially in working class families, just abt everyone has kin in the south.

Sure, the Civil War is important to the history of Michigan, but it's actually a lot more likely that a White Michigander is descended from a Confederate soldier than a Union soldier.

So there's that.

Beyond that, there's also the extent to which white supremacy has ALWAYS been part of our history in Michigan. White flight DEFINES our urban geography.

ALSO: the rural US is phenomenally similar, regardless of which state you're in, when it comes to libertarian fervor, conservative talk radio, etc.

When I was in college in The South, the biggest adjustment wasn't dealing with a huge amount of more racist white folks. Cause trust me, my "drinking town with a farming problem" (our unofficial motto that the local Bar has on tshirts) had plenty.

My biggest adjustment was becoming aware of and TRYING to dismantle all the dumb implicit biases I had about black folks from growing up with almost zero exposure except what was in the media/what adults in my community taught.

In one day I would encounter more POC than I had in my first eighteen years. And you betcha I had a whole boatload of really dumb prejudices to deal with. Racist white folks though? That was as familiar as it gets.

All that is to say nothing for the extent to which romanticization of Southern Antebellum and Confederate
a e s t h e t i c
is SUPER fashionable in rural areas, even if you live farther north than a plurality of Canadians. That 100% makes it harder to see it as threatening.

I love my state. I love its people. I love its weirdly wonderful patchwork of cultures and experiences.
And I love many, many aspects of rural living.
But I am never surprised when I find out Confederate Battle Flags are waving at conservative political rallies here.

BONUS STORYTIME:
My junior year in high school, on MLK Day, I rolled into the parking lot at my school to find it FESTOONED with Confederate Battle Flags flying on students' cars.
On MLK Day.

So yeah, zero surprise here.