Meet The Sheriff Who Refused To Honor Mandela

By the time he died Thursday, Nelson Mandela had achieved something close to universal acclaim. However, as Bustle reported, there are always going to be some people bent on making a controversy out of nothing, and today, South Carolina Sheriff Rick Clark was that person. After Mandela passed, President Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half mast to honor the former South African president's death. It’s an easy request to fulfill, and really isn’t anything but a simple show of respect for a deceased leader. You’d think that, at the very least, those who supported Mandela would comply, but Clark refused to, citing the fact that Mandela wasn’t “an AMERICAN!!!” (punctuation his).

“I usually don't post political items, but today is different,” wrote Clark, the sheriff of Pickens County, in a defiant Facebook post. “Nelson Mandela did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!! The flag should be lowered at our Embassy in S. Africa, but not here. Our flag is at half staff today for a Deputy in the low country who died going to help his fellow Deputy. He deserves the honor.”

Judging by the response to the post — 254 likes and counting, as well as a bunch of “rah rah Amurica!” backslapping — he’s giving his constituency what it wants.