The presence of members of hate groups on campus after a rally Friday leaves students anxiously awaiting the Associated Student Body Senate vote on a resolution to remove the state flag from school property Tuesday.
Students who organized the rally said they expected opposition and were prepared to meet it.
Buka Okoye, president of the University’s chapter of the NAACP said he is optimistic the senate will pass the resolution during Tuesday’s meeting. The meeting will be held 7 p.m. in the Law School auditorium.
“I definitely believe the KKK showing up applied more pressure on ASB,” Okoye said.
He said the decision will then be left for the administration of the university to remove the flag. Okoye said this decision will show if the University sides with the Klu Klux Klan or with the students.
“We are anticipating what decision they will make,” Okoye said.
Allen Coon, president of College Democrats, said seeing these members on the University’s campus reenforces the need for the flag to be removed.
“This is a symbol intricately linked to hate and racial oppression and these ideas of white supremacy,” Coon said. “Students are being hurt emotionally.”
Minutes before the rally, junior Dominique Scott sat on the steps of the Lyceum looking up at the state flag that waved limply above the trees of the Circle.
“I’m trying to be fearless as possible,” Scott said. “I’m not gonna to lie, I’m absolutely terrified.”
Students and faculty members flooded into the Circle until a crowd of several hundred people stood to view the rally.
Participants lifted signs displaying messages such as, “This is our University too,” “#whataboutus?” “I am more than a flag” and “Straight outta Patience.”
The chants of rally participants could be heard throughout campus.
University student, Tira Faulkner said she did not know the rally was happening until she heard racial slurs from the flag supporters. Faulkner said she chose not to feel inferior because of her race, but was still frightened.
“It honestly scares me, and it makes me feel uncomfortable here in my environment at Ole Miss,” Faulkner said. “It hurts.”
Scott came on stage as the first speaker at the rally. She said the students on campus should be united for progressive change.
Scott chose to tell a story about her decision to come to the University. She said she was scared of the history of violence and discrimination towards minorities in Mississippi. After coming here, however, she said she found the University’s community to be accepting.
“With that community, there also comes these symbols that surround me that make me feel I don’t belong here,” Scott said.
Holding onto these symbols of white supremacy and exclusion, Scott said, perpetuates the stereotypes that follow the University of Mississippi and the state as a whole.
“In trying to keep the Mississippi state flag, we are focusing on the past instead of the future. We are looking to things that the university used to be,” Scott said. “We are not giving the University a space to grow into something it can be.”
Scott spoke of the non-discrimination statement in the Associate Student Body constitution and urged ASB to pass the resolution.
“ASB when are you going to take a stance?” Scott said. “When are you going to be at the forefront of making this university available and safe for everyone?”
After the rally, pro-flag supporters holding state and Confederate flags from the International Keystone Knights came to the Circle shouting.
“Black lives don’t matter,” attendee and member Shaun Winkler said. “We are the blood of conquerers.”
On the steps Fulton Chapel, students and the pro-flag knights bantered. Their voices rose until University Police Department officers and University officials blocked off a free space between the two parties.
Kyler Campbell, an attendee and member of the Knights, said he feels that Mississippi does not need to change because the state has already changed enough.
“If they don’t like the way we do things down here in Mississippi, they can go to Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas they’ve got plenty of other states they can go to,” Campbell said. “They don’t need to come down here and try to change (anything).”
Winkler said the organization came to campus because they heard there was going to be a protest to take down the state flag. He said if the University were to do so, they would make a horrible mistake against the history of this state.
“They have the right to voice their opinion, as we have the right to voice our opinion,” Winkler said.
Winkler said the Confederate flag is no more a symbol of hate than the American flag.
“I feel that the Klu Klux clan is no more racist than the Black Lives Matter (movement),” Winkler said. “The Black Lives Matter is just as racist as the Klu Klux Klan could be.”
He said the swastika and KKK tattoos on his arms represent him as an individual. He said ever since the South Carolina shooting, “black leftist communism” groups have started forming and he does not see them as productive.
Camille Walker, the second speaker at the rally, said she is from Mississippi and her heritage matters, too.
“Heritage is not wound up in a piece of cloth,” Walker said. “And I would know. I don’t have any flags. I don’t have a monument.”
Walker said it is hard to recruit more black students when the University that should value the respect and dignity of each person flies a hate symbol.
“One day black students, brown students, red students, yellow students will walk on this campus and they will feel truly equal,” Walker said. “The path towards that day starts right now.”
The University sent out a press release which said, as a state institution, the University flies the flags representing our state and nation. However, as a university committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive campus for all students, they continue to join other leaders in Mississippi to encourage our government to change the state flag.
“We want our campus to reflect who we are in 2015: a vibrant, welcoming and diverse community that honestly examines our history as we move forward together,” Melinda Sutton, dean of students, said in the statement. “We commend our students for using the democratic process to engage in debate over civic issues.”
John Brahan, vice president of the Associated Student Body said he appreciated the demonstration and the pressure that is being put on the ASB senate. Brahan said this shows that students care about how ASB and the ASB senate can help them. He said the turnout was enough to make an impact on senators.
“Together we can make change on this campus,” Brahan said.
ASB President, Rod Bridges said this is a good showing of students getting behind a cause that they feel extremely passionate about. He said as a student government, that’s all they’ve wanted.
“They’re demonstrating their beliefs,” Bridges said. “I think this is great representation of students uniting under an issue they think needs to be changed.”
Allen Coon, President of College Democrats said seeing these members on the university’s campus enforces the fact that the flag needs to come down because it is a threat to minority students.
“This is a symbol intricately linked to hate and racial oppression and these ideas of white supremacy,” Coon said. “Students are being hurt emotionally.”
Shaun Winkler said to expect more flag supporters at the ASB senate meeting Tuesday.
“There could be 20 people, there could be 200 people,” Winkler said.
