A special interest group is raising money to purchase and erect a Confederate flag across the street from the campus of historically black Alabama State University.
Alabama State officials declined comment to the Tallassee Tribune about the group’s $3,000 fundraiser to purchase what could be a 50-foot-high flag pole directly across from ASU, on land that flag supporters say was donated by a Montgomery-based physician in support of the effort.
Officials compared their efforts to those of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has sparked national monitoring and protest efforts against police brutality, environmental justice and educational equity over the last year. From the Tribune:
“When asked, in the context of the current racial climate in American and among movements like Black Lives Matter, how (Fist Capitol Flaggers Co-Founder Dana Jones) felt this could be perceived, she said confederate groups are being treated unfairly in the media.”
“We are descendants of Confederate veterans,” Jones said. “Our lives matter just as much.”
State officials removed and prohibited Confederate flags from state capitol grounds last June, following the massacre of black worshipers in a Charleston, SC church by Dylan Roof, a Confederate enthusiast.
