When President Obama arrived at his hotel in Oklahoma City last night, he was greeted by a small group of protestors waving Confederate battle flags.
According to a local news station, the demonstrators wanted to show the world that the battle flag is not a symbol of hate but one of heritage — by waving it while shouting angrily at the first black president.
“We don’t believe it’s a symbol of racism,” protest organizer Andrew Duncomb told KFOR. “They’re blaming the racist problems on the flag and not on the real problems of America. Through the race lies the people who carry and harbor the hate inside.”
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Duncomb is African-American, and refers to himself as the “black rebel.” This was the second pro-Confederate flag rally he’d organized in the past week, having led a protest at the Oklahoma state capitol, one day after South Carolina removed the battle flag from its statehouse grounds.
Despite Duncomb’s energetic organizing, he hasn’t found all that much company in Oklahoma — the “black rebel” invited 3,000 people to the capitol rally but only about 80 showed up, according to Fox 25. On Wednesday night, Politico estimated the size of the pro-Confederate force at “as many as 10 people.”
Though their numbers were quite small compared to the ranks of the president’s supporters in the crowd outside the hotel, the pro-Confederate protestors still managed to have an impact.
“He should’ve had a better welcome than he had,” a woman wearing a t-shirt with Obama’s picture told Politico, before breaking into tears.
Eric Levitz