Mapping Hate: Pro-Confederate Battle Flag Rallies Across America

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.

If you know about a rally that isn’t on the map, let us know.

The Southern Poverty Law Center compiled the information in this map from lists created by other human rights organizations, hate groups and its own research in order to give a sense of the size of this reactionary movement. When available, event organizers, hate groups and key members involved, source information and crowd sizes at past events have been included. When not explicitly reported by credible news sources, the number of attendees has been estimated from photos and video evidence. Our hope is that the map will serve as an interactive resource for those seeking to understand the scope of the forces supporting the embattled flag.

*NOTE: The map above was last updated on Dec. 3, 2015.

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