On Friday, March 13, The Wright State College Democrats planned an expressive speech demonstration that included a burning of the American flag. The event was canceled due to high winds.
Vice President of the organization Grazier Bolha was in charge of the protest.
"The Wright State College Democrats will be hosting a demonstration in protest of the President's actions in Iran, as well as their aggressive ICE actions," Bolha said. "I will be burning an American Flag at the event in recreation of Texas v. Johnson."
However, the event was canceled due to weather.
“Regrettably, the demonstration has been canceled due to the strong winds,” Bolha posted approximately 45 minutes before the scheduled protest time.
While the demonstration was called off, counterprotesters decided to still show up. One of these individuals was Kyle Mills, a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major as well as a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Mills stood in front of BART with multiple American Flags strapped to his body. He shared that he decided to counterprotest after hearing a rumor that Bolha was going to burn an American Flag, which was confirmed by Bolha to The Wright State Guardian.
“While I don’t agree with everything America does, I think a lot of people don’t understand how good we have it here, and if they are going to exercise the right to burn the flag, I’m not going to stop them… I am also going to use my freedom of speech,” Mills said.
Mills explained that his plan was not to argue with anyone had the demonstration still occurred.
“I wasn’t coming out here looking for a fight. My goal is to just have a peaceful debate,” Mills said.
Bolha shared that the organization is now going through a constitutional crisis, and the event is unlikely to be rescheduled.
"While I have considered an individual demonstration unaffiliated with the College Democrats, I do not currently feel up to [the] task," Bolha said.
