MISSISSIPPI — “Black Rebel” Defends Confederate Heritage
TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)—A rally this weekend in our area featured a well known supporter of the Confederate flag who calls himself “The Black Rebel.” Andrew Duncomb traveled from his home state of Oklahoma, to attend a rally at Ballard Park.
Andrew Duncomb,
That rally was organized by the “Confederates United Patriots Society” in the wake of comments by some to remove the Mississippi state flag, after last month’s fatal shooting of Ronnie Shumpert by a Tupelo police officer during a scuffle.
Duncomb, who is African American, says he doesn’t believe the Mississippi state flag, or the Confederate battle flag is racist, or plays a role in any crimes.
Duncomb says, “Just because something offends somebody , doesn’t mean we should automatically oblige and take it down just because it is offensive to some. The people who are offended by those things need to learn what makes them offended by it. They say the Confederate flag stands for slavery, when is the last time , or Confederate flag oppresses you, how does that flag oppress you? You weren’t in iron chains back then, you weren’t in iron chains, so how can you say as a black guy, or any black person who wants to say the Confederate flag oppresses them, that Confederate flag never put them inside of chains.”
Before speaking at the Saturday rally, Duncomb visited with counter protesters at Ballard Park. No arrests or citations were issued at either rally.”
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GEORGIA: Officer Fired for Flying Confederate Flag
ROSWELL, Ga. — 53 year old Sgt. Silvia Cotriss has been terminated from the Roswell Police Department after 20 years with the force. She was fired for flying the Confederate flag outside of her own home and says, she didn’t know that people found the flag offensive.
Silvia Cotriss was fired for flying this flag at her home.
Nearby residents reported her stars and bars but Cotriss says she’s going to appeal the July 14th firing.
“If I knew it offended someone, my friends, my family, I wouldn’t do it,” Cotriss, 53, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Police officers have to adjust a lot of things in our lives, and for 20 years my whole life has been about making change and being held to a higher standard. We take an oath to help and protect people, so we can’t have a private life that’s really bad.”
Yet the flag displayed on a pole in the front yard of her Woodstock home for over a year “brought discredit to the Roswell Police Department,” a police captain wrote in Cotriss’ termination. She told detectives who interviewed her about the flag that it’s “part of her history, part of the South, part of history involving the Civil War.”
“Cops don’t watch the news because we live it in the day and don’t want to see it again at night,” Cotriss told the local newspaper.
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