Weekend Confederate flag, secession rally set for Alabama Capitol
Saturday, a “Secession Rally” planned by the Alabama Flaggers, a pro-Confederate battle flag group, is set to take place at the Alabama State Capitol. “We are rallying for the secession from the United States of America brings (sic) your flags bring your secession flags bring your secession signs,” states the event sponsor, Alabama Flaggers’ Facebook page. The event is scheduled in response to Gov. Robert Bentley removal the Confederate flags from a memorial on the grounds of the state Capitol after the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a black church in Charleston S.C., in June. “What we do is we fight to preserve our heritage, our monuments, our cemeteries and anything having to do with our heritage that is being destroyed,” Alabama Flaggers co-director Freda Mincey-Burton told AL.com. “We are trying to get the point across that we are tired of being walked on. We are tired of having our monuments defaced and destroyed. We do have constitutional rights.” Despite being banned from many Confederate flag rallies in the past months for their extreme views, the Southern Poverty Law Center has learned that the Alabama Flaggers extended an invitation to the hate-group the League of the South, and that several members of the League are scheduled to speak at the secession rally. “The LOS has become increasingly radical in recent years, and even more notably in recent months, as they have eagerly taken on a mantle of victimhood as the Confederate flag has come under fire and begun preparing themselves for an inevitable race war,” says the SPLC Hatewatch staff. As of Thursday, more than 300 people have indicated that they will attend Saturday’s 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. event.
Group gathers at Alabama Capitol to protest removal of the Confederate flag
The Confederate flag waved proudly on Alabama Capitol grounds again Saturday, as a group of nearly 1,000 gathered at the Capitol building for the “Southerns Rally” to protest the removal of Confederate flags from the Capitol grounds. Held at the State’s Confederate War Memorial located on the north side of the Capitol, the rally was organized by the Mike Williams, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to send a message that the flag is about pride in heritage, not racism or hate. On Wednesday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley had ordered the removal of four Confederate flags from the Capitol grounds, drawing mixed emotions from across the Yellowhammer state. Bentley’s actions were in response to calls to remove the Confederate emblems after the massacre of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. last week. The suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, posed in photos displaying Confederate flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags, re-igniting national disapproval over the flag’s symbolism. Saturday’s rally puts on display the growing momentum to reinstate the flag. Shortly after the removal of the flags, a Change.Org petition to reinstate the flags was started by Phillip Giddens from Gadson. Four days later the petition now has 17,500 supporters and counting (June 27, 2015: 12:33 p.m. CST). Photos from the rally:
Dylann Roof almost didn’t go through with Charleston shooting because ‘everyone was so nice’
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old suspect in the shooting of nine people Wednesday evening at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., had been planning the shooting for months, friends say. But he almost didn’t go through with the “mission” at the last minute, reports NBC News, because he said “everyone was so nice to him.” Roof, from Lexington, S.C., was arrested Thursday in North Carolina, and is currently being held at a detention center in South Carolina. He will appear at a 2 p.m. bond hearing through closed-circuit television. After spending about an hour in a prayer meeting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roof, a white man, opened fire, killing nine and injuring several others. He then fled and NBC reports Roof was captured in Shelby, N.C., Thursday morning. He waived extradition and was immediately taken back to South Carolina. According to Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten, the nine victims were: Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lance, 70; Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Hon. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59. Pinckney was a pastor of what is referred to as the “Mother Emanuel” AME Church, one of the oldest African-American churches in the United States. He was also a pillar of the local and regional Democratic community, who served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. “Michelle and I know several members of the Emanuel AME church,” said President Barack Obama on Thursday. “We knew their pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who, along with eight others, gathered in prayer and fellowship and was murdered last night. And to say our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families and their community doesn’t say enough to convey the heartache and sadness and the anger that we feel.” Roof has confessed to the shooting on Friday, telling authorities his plan was to start a race war.
