Chester, Va. – A newly installed Confederate battle flag is flying high over Interstate 95, according to our sister station WTVR.
A group called the Virginia Flaggers held a ceremony to raise the flag on a 50-foot pole located on a private property just off of I-95 around 10 a.m. on Saturday.
“I’m tired. The Civil War ended ions ago,” said King Salim Khalfani, Executive Director of the NAACP Virginia Conference. “We continue to have to fight this battle.”
Khalfani says the flag represents a symbol of hate during a time when African-Americans were fighting for their own freedom.
The Virginia Flaggers stand by the flag, though, saying that it’s simply a symbol to honor their Southern heritage.
“The flag will serve to welcome visitors and commuters to Richmond, and remind them of our honorable Confederate history and heritage,” Virginia Flagger Susan Hathaway wrote in a post on the Flaggers’ website.
