This may not be the case anymore with the recent decision by a Georgia jury, which indicted 15 members of a pro-Confederate flag group on the grounds of “terrorism”.
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Earlier this year, there was renewed debate in the United States about its place on public buildings after a man accused of killing nine worshippers at a black church in South Carolina appeared in many photos holding the flag.
A video of the incident taken by one of the partygoers shows a group of pickup trucks adorned with Confederate and American flags leaving the scene as police handled the situation.
A subsequent effort by a few elected officials in the region to remove Confederate symbols from public spaces has provoked a strong negative reaction from a few white Southerners, who argue that the symbols are a part of their history and heritage.
The 10 men and five women were charged with making terrorists threats and violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
“We respect the rights of all citizens to exercise their first amendment right, but we’re going to require them, while doing that, to respect the rights of all of the citizens, to feel safe”, Fortner said at a press conference Monday.
The driver of one of the trucks is quoted in the AJC as saying the convoy was at a separate event, was driving home and, as it drove by the party, celebrants started yelling and throwing rocks.
The Douglasville Police Department and the Douglas County District Attorney conducted an investigation to determine if any laws were broken.
The Times adds that two of the 15 indicted, Joe Eric Hood and Thomas Summers, were also indicted on an “unrelated count of battery stemming from an episode at a gas station called the Corn Crib”.
A group of whites in the U.S. have been charged with disrupting a birthday party filled with African-Americans by waving the Confederate flag.
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SPLC chief trial counsel Morris Dees praised District Attorney Brian Fortner for bringing charges.
