With the national controversy over hoisting the Confederate flag at a boiling point following the Charleston, S.C., shooting that left nine black parishioners dead, a Petaluma man decided this week to defend it — briefly — by raising it over his lawn.

Travis Kilbourne, 33, flew the flag over the house he rents on Lassen Drive for two days before replacing it with a national flag Thursday morning. He said he took it down because his goal was just to jump-start a conversation on free speech.

“I do not condone racism in any form — I think it is not conducive to America,” said Kilbourne, a Civil War reenactor who role-plays as a Union soldier. “I do believe in the First Amendment. I think it’s a cornerstone to who we are, and that’s why I did what I did.”

Kilbourne said he did not know the South Carolina shooter aligned himself with the Confederate flag.