The president of the United States came to Oklahoma yesterday, and this is what he encountered:
We should note that the number of people involved in this particular welcome barely broke into double digits. so don’t let the picture deceive you. Here’s a more telling angle: 
Let’s take even a closer look … no Army of Northern Virginia battle flags are to be seen. In fact, we have four or five navy jacks … and three flags with messages on them that were not carried by Confederate soldiers. 
What might they be? 
Old Miss folks will be happy with what the rest of us think is a stylized version of Colonel Sanders in his alternate red outfit. 
… wait … you want a closer look at that logo? 
… well, talk about digging up bodies … and then there’s one featuring a woman with a bikini top, which I’m sure was put out there to inspire the troops. Now, please tell me: are these people flying these flags to express their love of Confederate heritage and to honor the sacrifices of Confederate soldiers? Indeed, are these altered designs suitable as tributes to the Confederate fighting man? Then again, Ben “Cooter” Jones thinks so.
Crossroads 
This just reinforces the notion of the flag as a racist symbol.
As if it couldn’t be reinforced any more!
>> Now, please tell me: are these people flying these flags to express their love of Confederate heritage and to honor the sacrifices of Confederate soldiers?
Of course not. They’re representing a way of life, whatever they take that to be. I had to google for a good ten minutes (you’re impressed right?) to learn the difference between the Confederate Navy Jack and the Confederate battle flag. I want ten minutes of my life back. I’m not sure if I’m enlightened or stupid. But I’m from the 57th state, so probably the latter.
That flag with the Col. Reb cartoon is not associated with the university in any way. The university still holds the trademark rights to Col. Reb as a way to control it’s use, so whoever printed that flag violated copyright law.
Coach Hugh Freeze:
Let’s not forget the new Miss Mississippi
http://m.wapt.com/politics/miss-mississippi-speaks-out-on-state-flag-debate/34080194
Oklahoma? It wasn’t even a C.S. state in the war. Hell, it wasn’t even a U.S. state! It was a territory at the time.
These flags say very little about Confederate heritage. They show those who display them to be complete idiots. I don’t spent too much time worrying about the lunatic fringe.
“The South Shall Rise Again!” … and get knocked down for a second time by might of the United States Army.
To be honest, it sounds like a slogan from an erectile dysfunction commercial. “VIagra! It’ll make your south rise again!”
This is one of the neo-confederate/heritage groups operating in the state now. Be sure to scroll down to the post featuring the video of the Canadian and read the comments. The post about the NAACP poster is also interesting.
https://www.facebook.com/MagnoliaHeritage
This group below is the most active in the state thus far.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-the-Flag-Change-the-Speaker/1639042639652598
This group is run by Thomas Cripps. He is a neo-confederate/secesessonist who caught the attention of the SPLC back in 2001.
http://freemississippi.org/
The Coalition to Save the Flag is not on social media yet, but it is run by Jeppie Barbour. He is the brother of the former governor.
http://raycomgroup.worldnow.com/story/29486252/mississippi-flag-supporters-say-they-see-heritage-not-hate
Then there are the usual groups operating in the state including the MidSouth Flaggers, League of the South, Council of Conservative Citizens, SCV, and even the good ole KKK.
The guy who organized this was black, his name is Andrew Duncomb,and calls himself āthe Black Rebel. Just though I would point that out. Look close at the photo, several blacks in the group.
I am aware of that. Was he honoring CSA military service?
He’s another performance artist.
I would guess he was wanting attention.
I would also think if it wasn’t the Confederate flag Andrew Duncomb and others like him would use something else to get attention.
This flag demonstration for Obama disrespects the office and the man, and it makes me angry.
They aren’t even trying to court goodwill from the masses so as to build support. They are stubborn and cranky and dont give a damn.
Rosieo, give it a rest. Disrespecting offices, including the highest one, is an American tradition. In fact, it is a tradition in every place I’d ever want to live. Pretty much the Western world generally. My guess is you lose your sanctimony at this grave offense at approximately the same time you realize a politician does not agree with your own. Be honest. True?
I see you are cranky and dont give a damn.
Me. I’m stubborn.
Now, Markie, go take your nap.
I wonder what the reaction would be if Xi Jinping were to visit Tokyo and a bunch of Japanese right-wingers waved IJA flags along his motorcade route.
Confederate soldiers’ memory and the concept of heritage are EXCUSES invoked by types who wave Confederate battle flags with unrelated logos on them. Their great, great grandpas would take these modern day flaggers to the woodshed.
Ironically, for people supposedly so concerned about their heritage, they’re going to embarrass the hell out of their own descendants.
They always do. The incentives within the Confederate Heritageā¢ movement are all oriented to reward the most boorish behavior possible.
I’m embarrassed for my state.
http://www.wtva.com/news/national/story/Supporters-stand-by-the-Mississippi-State-Flag/KMGfOpecTkS2vzsY0sFSkA.cspx
Here’s how the Virginia Flaggers are celebrating their heritage.
You can watch the video here. At about the 1:20 mark Susan Hathaway leads the Flaggers in singing:
“There’s where this old darkey’s heart am long’d to go.”
and:
“There’s where I labored so hard for old Massa,”
The song, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” was historically Virginia’s official state song. Wikipedia:
“In 1997, it was retired on the grounds that the lyrics were considered offensive to African Americans. On January 28, 1997, the Virginia Senate voted to designate “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia” as state song emeritus and a study committee initiated a contest for writing a new state song.”
You can watch the video here. At about the 1:20 mark Susan Hathaway leads the Flaggers in singing:
“There’s where this old darkey’s heart am long’d to go.”
and:
“There’s where I labored so hard for old Massa,”
And a Susan Hathaway sighting!
http://www.nbc12.com/story/29579701/local-confederate-flag-ride-and-rally
And quoted in this Reuters article, in perfect parallel with the KKK messaging.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/19/us-usa-south-carolina-klan-idUSKCN0PS0DS20150719
She has a wonderful voice. š
The flag debate here in Mississippi is starting to expose some previously hidden bigots. Be sure to watch the news video imbedded in the story. … It’s about “heritage”.
http://www.ems1.com/mississippi/articles/2871833-Miss-ambulance-tech-apologizes-for-KKK-flag-Facebook-post/
A local black confederate was killed in a car crash while coming back from a flag rally. The woman with him says they were being chased. MHP is investigating.
http://m.mcalesternews.com/news/update-man-who-was-with-stuart-woman-in-accident-after/article_7d867ed4-2e70-11e5-82df-1fcf5567ace2.html?mode=jqm
I don’t know anything more that, but I can say things are getting bad down here. There are these ” flag parades” happening around the state where people in pickup trucks drive around with large confederate flags hanging off their trucks. Some go through black areas and most of the participants appear to be young, white, males. I witnessed one today cutting through town on its way to Tupelo for a rally.
I have seen some very nasty ans openly racists comments posted on social media, and there was a flag rally in Magnolia, Mississippi that got heated at one point when two people started arguing. Magnolia is a city in south Mississippi that stopped flying the state flag. Magnolia is about 70% black.
I also saw on the news where a man in Louisville had his Mississippi flag burned that was hanging from his house. Law enforcement in investigating that as an arson.
I’m old enough to remember segregated waiting rooms at the doctor’s office and I’m getting worried.
The governor is hiding in his bunker and tensions are getting pretty bad.
I really don’t want to live down here anymore.
My world doesnt have such trouble, but right now my world is little and it’s in the north.
It is good you write, Leo. Don’t stop.
The anti-Confederate battle flag crowd in Mississippi should help in finding out the truth about what has happened. If it turns out it these people were in fact run off the road, the person who did it should turn themselves in or be turned in by others. How disgusting and degenerate, if true.
Furthermore, these people are not “Confederates” or “neo-Confederates”, They are not advocating for slavery. The man who was killed was not a “Confederate”. Please stop calling these people things they are not, or that they don’t call themselves.
Peace!
Anthony called himself a “black Confederate”. I donāt condone the title.
Most people in town viewed him as an oddity. I actually knew him.
I didn’t know that. At least, from what I can see from his videos, he wasn’t advocating for slavery. The poor man.
What is actually known about this crash is minimal. Ms. Barnum’s statements that have been made publicly so far suggest a road rage incident, but she has not — as far as I’ve seen — made any assertions about who was responsible, or why. This incident happened the day after the rally, almost 200 miles away in another state, so I don’t think anyone should assume that it is connected to the flag rally Saturday.
None of that matters to the heritage crowd, of course, who by Sunday evening, just a few hours after Mr. Hervey’s death, had settled on the narrative that he was “murdered” by the Black Panthers, and that he and Ms. Barnum were being targeted for their flag activism. One flagger group is printing up memorial t-shirts, and the odious Kirk Lyons is already soliciting donations in Hervey’s name. I’m sure that if the MHP investigation ends up not supporting that scenario, they’ll be accused of being part of the conspiracy to cover up the “truth” about this incident, and added to the long, long list people and institutions complicit in the “cultural genocide” of the South. So it goes.
I agree with everything you say here, Andy. I should add that false narratives are not the exclusive province of neoconfederate and their ilk in modern American society. One has to look no further than Ferguson, Mo., to see another recent example. There are those who choose to believe their version of an event based on what is popular with their cohort, and there are those who believe the results of thorough investigations by competent officials complete with detailed analysts of all of the evidence (e.g., autopsy reports, eyewitness reports, etc.). I hope to always be in the camp of the latter and not of the former, regardless of whose ox is being gored.
I don’t disagree with you and that is why I said, “if true”.
I should also add that a black man was killed by a white police officer in Stonewall, Mississippi and it is only adding fuel to the fire down here. It is not flag related, but it is not helping race relations at all.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/07/19/black-horse-trainers-death-raises-tensions/30391301/
Crickets …
BTW, I was in Birmingham with Anthony Hervey:
Some state flag supporters have taken to social media claiming black activists murdered Anthony without any supporting evidence. I fear this kind of baiting is only going to make things worse down here. The Mississippi Highway Patrol is conducting a crash investigation today and has not released any statement as far as I know.
There are extremists on both sides of the state flag issue and there is a real danger the reactionaries will take control of the ādiscussionā if cooler heads do not prevail. The governor is still hiding in his mansion and acting as if everything is just fine.
There are real racial tensions in Mississippi and they have been bubbling for quite a while. It was just 4 years ago that three white teens were arrested and found guilty for hunting black men for sport near Jackson, Mississippi.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948853/Jail-three-racist-white-teens-drove-Jackson-specifically-beat-run-black-man-truck.html
Add the tension surrounding the incident in Stonewall where a white police officer killed an unarmed black man with the emotions swirling over the flag issue and you have a powder keg ready to explode. Our governor is hiding when he should be out front.
It isnāt helpful when you have people with a history of known segregationists views like Jeppie Babour traveling the state talking about āthe liberal media and saying āhe aināt gonna give it up for anybodyā.
http://www.wtva.com/mostpopular/story/Supporters-stand-by-the-Mississippi-State-Flag/KMGfOpecTkS2vzsY0sFSkA.cspx
Social media is also helping fuel racial tensions. One of the more egregious examples is the story of an EMT who posted a photo of the KKK flag with the statement, āWhite power will never dieā. His claim that people need to look at the āheritage sideā verses the āhate sideā just rings hollow.
http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29550077/local-firefighter-and-amr-tech-regrets-controversial-facebook-post
It’s getting bad and I fear it will get worse.
What would you do if you were governor?
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/07/19/miss-flag-folded-public-buildings/30391809/
I think the best solution is to bring back the Magnolia Flag. It has the connection to Mississippi history and heritage those on that side of the issue say they value and it does not contain the battle flag. It is the best option I can see right now.
The great irony here, of course, is that the Magnolia Flag was only the official state flag of Mississippi during its time in the Confederacy, 1861-65. You’d think the heritage folks would rally behind the change for that very reason, but (once again) they’re less interested in the actual history than they are in playing at being unreconstructed.
That is why I think this issue is only going to get worse as it drags out over time. I hate seeing my state tear itself apart over this while the āpolitical leadershipā hides. There is also the matter of the economic and social damage this is doing to the state. Who is going to WANT to move here now? Iām so damn frustrated I donāt know what to do!
TARE
Apologies for the typo.
And you remember, Andy, what I said about my attitudes on the reconstruction of southerners? š
Clanton, Ala., police arrested a 20-year-old man last week on disorderly conduct charges after four white men drove through a predominantly black neighborhood flying the Confederate flag and shouting racial slurs.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/confederate_flag_confrontation.html
Flag controversy prompts prayer vigil at governor’s mansion
http://www.wapt.com/news/flag-controversy-prompts-prayer-vigil-at-governors-mansion/34211220
Open question:
What would you do if you were governor?
More information is coming out about the accident, but MHP has not released any official statements and is still conducting an investigation.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/07/20/anthony-hervey-legacy-ole-miss/30423497/
The local paper is reporting the facebook posts by the passenger were posted an hour and a half after the wreck and witnesses said he was driving erratically. There is no mention of anyone seeing another car chasing them or bumping them. I am sorry but I do not have a link.
Well, Leo, I’d never be elected because it just doesn’t sound like your state is ready for a woman in the statehouse. I looked up your U.S. Senators and they are older-looking white guys (I always say my generation of white guys (and I am a white woman) runs and screwed up the world… but I digress)… they are older-looking white guys who ought to be asked for comment and commitment to civil rights. I’m a journalist (in need of work but digressing again)… If state officials are useless, make the national ones talk. Go to top guys (always go for best source) and report what they say. If they say nothing, tell people that and ask your state’s thinkers how they feel about this. Journalism is front line of history. It is piece-by-piece recording of the best truth you can get. I dont know who you are but the universe has you there with your brains and abilities. Keep writing. And, maybe, run for governor.
You know, Leo, you asked…
Unreal.
A mural depicting and a guidebook romanticizing the Klan have graced the lobby of a Florida county courthouse for decades. Someone finally woke up and called for it to be removed. But not so fast because, you know, heritage.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/its-not-a-racist-thing-florida-rally-fights-to-keep-mural-of-hooded-klansmen-in-county-courthouse/