Justin Schroeder, 36, returned home from doing his daily errands to find an odd letter placed in front of his door. Justin claims he is no stranger to encountering bizarre people and situations, but this one had left him in complete awe and almost without words. As a United States Air Force veteran, you can imagine being patriotic is more than a feeling, it is a duty, something ingrained in you that will never go away. So the idea of one of his neighbors not only being offended, but requesting that he take down one of the country’s most patriotic symbols, the American flag, infuriated him so much he had to take it to social media. Justin went on Facebook live and described his neighbor’s rant in the letter and disgust for his love of his country. The fact that just him having his flag in front of his door could incite such rage was mind-boggling to him.

“Judging by the trucks in your driveway, I can only assume you voted for Trump.” That was just one of the visceral lines from the letter Justin read to his Facebook followers. The neighbor even went as far as threatening to take down the flag if it was not removed, and at the end of the letter closed with a braggadocious one liner- “We will win.” Justin, not one to back down from a confrontation, retorted in his video “I met some stupid f–king people in my lifetime, but I can tell you right now, that flag right there? That flag ain’t coming down.” He wasn’t the only one who shared this sentiment as his video was shared 19000 times and had 700, 000 views with people even offering to protect him by guarding his house, while others pleaded with him to contact the authorities. Justin did not want to go to that extreme and felt that the police have more urgent matters to attend to. On the flip side, he has also received death threats from people sharing the same views as the unidentified neighbor who wrote the letter. This did not faze Justin in the least as his response was to move the flag 10 feet higher, but he also used precaution and installed hidden security cameras.

This is just one example of how divisive and volatile the nation has become in the last couple of years. Emotions are high and people are passionate about their beliefs, even at the expense of being intolerant of others’. This situation has shed light on the state of the country right now. Many people are on edge and feel their human rights are being violated, and if not theirs, there is still the need to defend someone else’s human rights believed to be overlooked. Justin is just one of many who have felt what it means to be targeted for your belief.