Chart of the Day: Mapping pro-Confederate Flag rallies

In the wake of the South Carolina legislature’s decision last week to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the state capitol, hate groups across the country are mobilizing in the racist symbol’s defense. The Southern Poverty Law Center compiled this map of rallies in support of the flag across the country.

In a post on Medium, the SPLC writes:

In the aftermath of the June 17 massacre of nine black churchgoers by a white Confederate battle flag enthusiast in Charleston, S.C., the symbol that has long been revered by the Ku Klux Klan and other defenders of the antebellum South has come under bitter attack. The flag has been removed from both the South Carolina and the Alabama state Capitol grounds, banned by commercial giants like Amazon, Walmart and eBay, and denounced even by an array of conservative Republicans who had never criticized it in any way.

But as calls continue to mount around the country for the removal of the flag and other monuments to the Confederacy, a major backlash from enthusiasts of the Lost Cause has set in. Most dramatically, the North Carolina-based Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is staging a July 18 rally in support of the flag in Columbia, S.C., just over 100 miles from Charleston. In the run-up to that rally, there already have been nearly 90 such events with thousands of participants around the country, and more than 20 others are planned in the coming weeks.

The map is a startling reminder for anyone too comfortable after last week’s victory in South Carolina. To learn more, follow Hatewatch on Twitter.

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