US Flag 'Nothing More Than Toilet Paper,' School Official Says

ELGIN, IL – A U-46 school board member is getting plenty of attention after a post on her personal Facebook page in support of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem received hundreds of comments and even some death threats. During a school board meeting this week, Traci O'Neal Ellis apologized that the post — which referred to the U.S. flag as "nothing more than toilet paper to me" — caused such a "distraction."

But she stood by her original comment, saying her "lived experience" as a black woman in America gave her the freedom to speak her mind on this matter.

"While I make no apologies for my comment made as a private citizen and taxpayer in this country on my personal Facebook page about a matter of import in the current national discourse and based upon my lived experiences, I completely own that as an elected official and your colleague, I could have been much more circumspect in my criticism and more elegant in my language," she said during Monday's U-46 meeting.

The Sept. 24 Facebook post about the American flag sparked a firestorm online. Her statement about the U.S. flag, O'Neal Ellis said, was made in light of the recent controversy surrounding NFL football players taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice — namely the brutality toward and killing of unarmed black people by police officers.

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O'Neal Ellis said that while the U.S. flag is meant to serve as a symbol of freedom, the history of this country has been marked with racism. She added that her experience in America is "vastly different than that of white people" and that she, her family and friends have felt the "painful sting of racism."

O'Neal Ellis's original Facebook post was shared on some Elgin-area Facebook pages and also by school board member Jeanette Ward. This was O'Neal Ellis's response in the days following her initial post about the American flag:

The local school board member received hundreds of responses via Facebook following the posts. According to the Daily Herald, she also was threatened by someone who simply wrote, "one bullet," on her public school board page. The Elgin Police Department is investigating that threat but have announced no major developments.

Some attendees of Monday's meeting called for Ellis's resignation, the Daily Herald reports, while others said the controversy should be used to start a conversation within the schools or district about race relations.

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