Dying For Dixie Response

What was/were the root cause(s) of Michael Westerman's death?
In a small racist town deep in the south there was a shooting. Michael Westerman was shot and killed by a small group of African American boys on January 14th 1995. The cause of Michael Westerman’s death was misunderstanding and incompetence from Michael Waterman, Freddie Morrow, Waterman’s wife, and the whole town.
There was a lot of pure pressure in Guthrie, Kentucky and a lot of racial tension which I feel helped contribute and lead to this incident. In the article Freddie Morrow, the one who shot Westerman, didn’t even know about the civil war and what the Confederate flag stood for, he just knew that all of the African Americans in town didn’t like it so neither did he. Morrow had even said that he thought the flag was “…just the Dukes of Hazzard sign” and that he thought white people were using the flag in a taunting way and “just doing it out of spite, to see what we would do.” This to me is sad that Morrow didn’t even understand the full meaning of why he shot Westerman and he just did it because he had a gun and was pressured into it.
Another character who supports my claim of incompetence and pure pressure would be Michael Westerman’s wife Hannah Westerman. She and Michael had been high school sweethearts and got married several years later. They then had two twins together on December 9, 1994; the night of the shooting was the first time they had gone out together after the twin’s birth. But Hannah also contributed to her husband’s death in more ways than one. When Tony Horowitz, author of Dying for Dixie, asked Hannah the reason her husband had displayed the flag in the back of his truck she said that “He wasn’t into all the Confederate history and that he didn’t, like dig into it.” “Was it school spirit” Horowitz asked and she smiled and said “Michael was glad just to graduate from the place. A few of Michael’s friends had started flying the flag from their pickups about the time he bought his truck. He decided to do the same. He’d do anything to make his truck look sharp. The truck’s red. The flag’s red. They match.” I feel that Mrs. Westerman did or should have known the general meaning behind the flag but the fact that she let her husband still put it in his pickup truck and be pressured into that category of people, she in a way contributed to her husband’s death.
My final character that I feel represents my claim is Michael Westerman. This man had been a racist person who always wanted to be noticed and voice his opinions. An example of this is when Michael was at his job, he worked at a small hotel restaurant, and he started harassing one the waitresses “…she screamed “put me down!” and struggled to get free, but Michael wouldn’t let her go. When a black cook intervened, Michael shouted “nigger” and other slurs.” Then the waitress later said “He’d do a few dishes, then sit reading comic books and annoying anyone who walked by. He took things to extremes.” This proves to me that Michael just wanted a lot of attention and later when he decided to put the flag on his truck, he was jut pressured into it by his friends. When he gave into and agreed to put the flag on his truck it led to his misunderstanding of what it truly stands for and it led to his death.
Overall I feel that the combination of incompetence and the misunderstandings led to Michael Westerman’s death and a change of the town. This all could have been avoided if everyone had known what the flag stands for and what it represents. Another way it could have been avoided is if everyone hadn’t given into the pure pressure, if Morrow hadn’t given in to his label and pulled out that gun and if Hannah hadn’t allowed her husband to put the flag up Michael would still be alive. If Michael wouldn’t have done what all his friends were doing he would still be alive today. I believe the cause of Michael Westerman’s death was a misunderstanding and incompetence from Michael Waterman, Freddie Morrow, Waterman’s wife, and the whole town.