One of the bricks was wrapped in the hand-written note, which is filled with expletives and a racial insult.

CANTON Dennis Tipton and Ana Sainz say they don't know who heaved two bricks through a window at their northwest Canton home, but they know why.

On Memorial Day weekend, Tipton put up a Confederate flag in their front yard, alongside an American flag. Someone vandalized their home Thursday and included a threatening note about their flag display.

"I put it up to honor all the fallen war dead; that's what the holiday is about," Tipton said. "Black, white red or yellow, it's about the fallen. At least that's what I was taught in school... It's obviously the act of someone who didn't graduate, doesn't know what the flag represents. The flag represents the fallen heroes, the people who gave their lives for the freedom that we enjoy in this country."

Tipton, a self-described liberal, said he is angry that his First Amendment rights have been imposed upon, and his home has been damaged. The bricks not only broke a window but also a mirror and several cups from a 100-year-old set of china, the couple said.

San Francisco transplants

One of the bricks was wrapped in the hand-written note, which is filled with expletives and a racial insult, along with the warning that "it will get worse" if the flag isn't removed.

"It (flag) wasn't meant as anything against black people. At all," Sainz said.

For decades, the Confederate flag has been at the center of a national debate about its meaning and place in American culture. Last June, after nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., were killed by an avowed racist who frequently displayed the flag, Gov. Nicki Haley ordered that a Confederate flag flown from the state capital since 1964 be permanently removed.

Defenders of the flag say it's a symbol of Southern heritage, history, and culture - not racism.

Apart from someone stealing art pieces from their yard three years ago, Sainz said, they haven't had any serious problems in their racially integrated neighborhood since buying their home five years ago. A retired artist, Tipton is a Canton native who left at 15 and spent the next 40 years in San Francisco.

"Any time, any place"

"We're from San Francisco, and this is absurd to me," Sainz said. "I never thought that I'd come to my old man's hometown and have a hate crime committed against us... I've never in all my years, I've never had anything like this happen to me in San Francisco. I was born and raised there. I'm Cuban American, never had anything like this happen. I come here, I think it's a friendly, open town. Dennis is very friendly, very open, very kind. And boom, boom, boom. I don't know what's going on."

Tipton said he will continue to fly the flag, and warned that if he catches any more vandals on his property, the consequences will be dire. The couple filed a report with the Police Department.

"It represents fallen heroes; people who gave their lives, whether it be north, south, it doesn't matter," he said. "Don't hate me because you don't know what it's about. I have every right to fly that flag, any time, any place. I'm not a racist."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @cgoshayREP