HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. — A Waynesville man is preparing to walk to Washington, D.C. carrying the Confederate battle flag and a message.
Toby Hatfield believes the Confederate battle flag removed from the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol last week was, by and large, done disrespectfully.
He’s preparing at his home in the Jonathan Creek community to walk 500 miles to our nation’s capital with a version of the Confederate battle flag that has the message “Heritage Not Hate” written on it.
He says the man responsible for the church shooting in Charleston was ignorant and was wrong in using the Confederate battle flag.
Hatfield says it’s a flag of southern culture and history and ought to be respected, especially the thousands who died during the Civil War, on both sides.
“For us that feel like this is just tradition and our southern heritage and our ancestors…He’s ignorant…But that don’t mean we should get our…literally our history completely genocided out,” he says.
Hatfield says he’s worried South Carolina’s decision could impact the flag being removed from the grave sites of Confederate soldiers or spark vandalism.
Others disagree with the flag’s relevance.
“I think it’s a message of negativity to enough people that. Why should there even be a question? Just take it down,” says Kim Williams.
Hatfield remains determined, knowing there are strong, and different points of view.
“All of us need to stand together to save the history, but the ignorance also needs to be stopped,” Hatfield said.
Hatfield plans on leaving Tuesday from Waynesville no later than noon.
His facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009860679377&pnref=story
Hundreds of thousands died, called upon by their states to defend territory from the northern aggressors, and now those states led by people in these times that do not realize that it was so much more than to keep slavery alive have capitulated to the ignorant masses than educate them on the real reason why the states took up arms to resist an overbearing federal government.