Scores rally round Confederate battle flag

Wayne Reynolds of Columbia, a Vietnam veteran, sits in a wheelchair in front of the Capitol while participating in a Confederate Flag rally sponsored by the Missouri Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. About 150 people attended the Sunday event.
Wayne Reynolds of Columbia, a Vietnam veteran, sits in a wheelchair in front of the Capitol while participating in a Confederate Flag rally sponsored by the Missouri Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. About 150 people attended the Sunday event.

Some 150 people joined a Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) rally Sunday at the Capitol in support and defense of the Confederate battle flag, which has come under fire in recent months.

"We are not about hate," said Darrell Maples, commander of the Missouri Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. "We are not about racism. We are about America and our ancestors."

The flag has been removed from state capitols and other public places after the June killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. Some corporations have stopped selling items with the flag. The man accused in the slaying had posed with a Confederate flag. Critics say it stands for racism and divisiveness.

SCV says the flags are wrongly being erased from history. A statement released by the group on Sunday said: "We will not sit back and watch and listen as our ancestors and their symbols are denigrated and lied about."

Soldiers in the Confederate States Army were men of honor defending an invasion of their homes and their land by an oppressive federal government, it said.

"While there are those that would say that they were fighting to preserve the institution of slavery, nothing could be further from the truth," the statement said, adding 85-90 percent of Confederate soldiers were not slave owners.

The group said it does not condone slavery, and that it was not "a Southern sin. It was a National sin."

The group on Sunday flew Confederate flags, posed for photos and cheered during speeches. No opposition to the gathering was apparent.

Fulton resident Deby Fitzpatrick, who attended in Civil War-era clothing with her family, is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

She said her family came "just to remember there were men and women who stood up for what they believed in - whether that was state's rights or Unionism or abolitionism. All of it was happening. There's so much history that has been covered up."