For at least the third day this week, more protests related to the Confederate flag are taking place in front of the Coffee County Courthouse. While a small group waved Confederate flags near the Confederate memorial on the courthouse square, a larger group of citizens stood at the corner of Peterson Avenue and Ashley Street as a statement against the Confederate flag.
The group, comprised of individuals from young children to older adults, held signs and waved at passersby. “We’re standing here for what we believe. I lot of people have told us that we shouldn’t be offended by the Confederate flag. But there are other ways to represent southern pride. We’re southerners, too,” said Latiffa Bryant.
The Confederate flag controversy has been back in the news following the tragic shooting deaths of nine black worshippers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., over a week ago. The shooter, Dylann Roof, allegedly aligned himself with white supremacist groups and his racist views are the reason why he carried out the shooting.
In the days that followed the shooting, protests sprang up in South Carolina against the Confederate flag, with which Roof was pictured on his Facebook page. The Confederate flag has also flown above the state capitol in Columbia since the early 1960s. Protestors want the flag removed from the state house in South Carolina. Protests spread to other southern states as businesses across the country removed merchandise bearing the Confederate flag from their stores and Web sites.
In Douglas, individuals protested in favor of the Confederate flag on Wednesday and Thursday. Flag supporters were out again Saturday morning. This time, barely 100 yards away, others voiced displeasure in the Confederate flag. “We don’t care if they take the flag down or not. Even if people take the flag down, the mindset remains the same. We know what the flag represents – hatred, bigotry, racism. We’re concerned about why they chose this time to fly the flag. I feel like they’re congratulating that guy for killing the people in Charleston,” said Dwayne Simpson, Bryant’s father. Simpson added that he too had pride in the South. “We had people who fought in the Civil War, too.”
Bryant said taking pride in the history and tradition of the South was perfectly acceptable. Flying the Confederate flag, she said, might not be the best way to express that. “We want our children to be a part of this. You’ve got to stop the division somewhere and it begins with the kids. There’s no division to us – whether you’re white, black, or purple. There’s no hate – just heritage,” she says.
Dwayne Simpson holds a sign Saturday morning as he protests against the Confederate flag.