Differing Accounts in the Douglasville, GA Confederate Flag Story
Make of this what you will:
Melissa Alford says videos show the aftermath of an ugly incident — a convoy of Confederate flag-bearing pickup trucks and their passengers interrupting a black child’s birthday party with threats and racial epithets.
Levi Bush, who was driving one of the trucks, says the videos show the unfortunate ending of an unintentional encounter — one triggered, in fact, by the people at that birthday party.
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Bush, the leader of the caravan of trucks, told the AJC that his group is called “Protect the Flag” and is not a hateful one. They “drive around and sell flags,” he said, with all of the proceeds going to veterans or toward purchasing new American flags for those in need.
Bush said his group was leaving a nearby event when they drove by Alford’s home and the partygoers started yelling at the trucks in front of him. They then threw rocks at his vehicle, he said.
Bush said he fishtailed while trying to drive away, then ran over a median and got a flat tire. When he pulled into a nearby driveway, the partygoers swarmed and made threats, and his friends backed him up, he said.
And here’s why you should make of this what you will:
“Basically about eight of us had to hold 15 to 20 of them back,” Bush said, admitting that a specific racial slur was likely used by members of his group.
That’s one thing Bush and Alford, the woman hosting the child’s birthday party, agree on:
“One had a gun, saying he was gonna kill the [racial slur],” Alford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Then one of them said gimme the gun, I’ll shoot them [racial slur].”
Police are reviewing the videos to see if there was any criminal activity.
More: Stories Differ in Douglas County Confederate Flag Flap