By Aaron Miller-
Federal law enforcement officials Thursday say they have taken into custody a man seen in widely distributed pictures carrying a large Confederate flag during last week’s siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Justice Department officials confirmed Kevin Seefried, along with his son, Hunter, turned themselves into the U.S. Marshalls Service in Wilmington, Delaware, about 174 kilometers northeast of Washington.
The two family members Seefrieds will be charged with misdemeanor accounts of trespassing and disorderly conduct, while Hunter Seefried has also been charged with destruction of property.
The FBI had distributed a bulletin via social media and elsewhere seeking information about Seefried, with four pictures shoiwng him walking the halls of the Capitol carrying a large Confederate flag, which goes back to the American Civil War between the North and the South in the 1860s, but has come, in modern times, to represent white supremacy.
Reeves said the flag re-emerged during the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s as sign of opposition to efforts to abolish segregation and ensure voting rights for African Americans. He said it is common to see white supremacists carry it at rallies.
Reeves said many in the southern United States have argued the flag is simply a symbol of their heritage, but “Black Americans have always known exactly what it stands for.”
The Confederate flag, known as the Rebel battle flag during the war, was a call to arms for the South on the one hand, and a sign of treason for the those in the North.
Reeves said the flag resurfaced during the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s , as an emblem of opposition to efforts to abolish segregation and achieve equal voting rights for African Americans.
He was first identified by the Newyork Times as the career of the flag. Other hoodlums have been identified by CNN, who were proactive in their search for the culprits of the insurrection.