MINNEAPOLIS – A conservative activist was immediately harassed, threatened with physical violence, and forced to run for safety simply for walking through a South Minneapolis neighborhood with an American flag draped over his shoulders, according to a viral video released Monday that has left many Americans horrified.
Zachary “Zak X” Stumpf, a 36-year-old content creator from St. Cloud, Minnesota, filmed the tense encounter near George Floyd Square. In the footage, young men hurl insults at him as he walks along the street. Moments later, a car screeches up, and a man jumps out and rushes toward Stumpf in what appears to be an attempt to confront or assault him. Stumpf is forced to flee while yelling that he is calling the police.
After reaching the relative safety of his vehicle, a visibly shaken Stumpf expressed deep frustration and heartbreak over the conditions in the area.“This sht hurts my heart, man. I can’t even sit here without feeling like I got to roll my fing window up and lock my door because somebody walks by,” he said. “It’s a fing disgrace. No one can fing have kids safe down here, especially if you’re white. This sht’s a joke. What the f has this state come to?”
The video, which runs more than three minutes, has racked up tens of thousands of views and shares across social media platforms. Popular accounts amplified the clip, with one declaring it “should horrify every American” and calling for the National Guard to be deployed while demanding mass deportations of those who make the streets unsafe.
Stumpf, who legally changed his last name from Stumpf to X in 2024, has built a following by documenting conditions in Minneapolis and challenging progressive policies. He previously faced a fifth-degree assault charge after a December 2025 confrontation with anti-ICE protesters outside a federal building in Fort Snelling, where he was also carrying an American flag. Prosecutors said he escalated a verbal exchange by punching a protester; Stumpf and his supporters have maintained he was acting in self-defense after being aggressively confronted.
The latest incident occurred in a neighborhood long marked by high crime, visible blight, and lingering effects of the 2020 riots that followed the death of George Floyd. While overall crime rates in Minneapolis and many major U.S. cities have declined in recent years, with homicides dropping significantly, certain South Minneapolis areas continue to struggle with safety concerns that residents and critics say make everyday activities, including displaying the American flag, feel risky.
Viewers online expressed shock at the hostility directed at a national symbol in an American city. Many described the neighborhood as a “no-go zone” and questioned how a man can be threatened for the simple act of walking with the Stars and Stripes.
Stumpf has not issued a detailed public statement beyond the video itself, but the clip has fueled renewed debate about law and order, free speech, and the long-term consequences of soft-on-crime policies and demographic changes in Democrat-run cities like Minneapolis.
As one social media user put it while sharing the footage: “If you can’t wave your flag in your own country, that tells you it’s being taken over.”
