Missouri woman responds to giant Confederate flag with her own inclusive billboard
‘The Confederate flag cannot be separated from what it represented during the Civil War, Slavery,’ reads online fundraising page that exceeded initial target
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Your support makes all the difference.A woman from Missouri has reacted to a Confederate flag by putting up her own message of support for equality for all.
Amanda Burrows from Tuscumbia organised a billboard to read “Equality, bigger than hate” in light of a visible Confederate flag on a highway on the outskirts of the town of Eldon.
After noticing the divisive symbol flying on the side of the road, she realised that the neighbouring billboard was available for rent.
Costs of the inclusive sign were totalled to be $3,850, which would pay for the artwork, materials and rental. To raise the $3,850 needed for artwork, materials and rental, Ms Burrows established a crowd funder. She exceeded her target by nearly 10 times her goal, raising over $37,000. In the description, she outlined her reasons for spreading the inclusive message.
“The Confederate flag cannot be separated from what it represented during the Civil War, Slavery,” She wrote on the GoFundMe. “This is not what this area is about; we wave at our neighbors, empty our pockets at cancer fundraisers & only raise taxes for schools & police officers.”
She said that she was “proud” of the town she lives in for its progressivism and did not want to make people feel afraid.
“I’m proud of that. I also want anyone who doesn’t look like me to feel welcome here. Love, not Hate,” she continued.
The Anti-Defamation League says the Confederate flag, which first emerged during the Civil War as a “battle flag”, has since “also served as a potent symbol of slavery and white supremacy, which has caused it to be very popular among white supremacists in the 20th and 21st centuries”.
Ms Burrows’s actions, after going viral, attracted the attention of a branch leader of the NAACP, who labelled her efforts as “courageous.”
"If I were to speak to her, I would tell her how courageous it was for her to do this thing, and how much it means to how much it can mean to the community for her to be standing up there and letting folks know that this is not the way that all the people in the area feel,” Mary Ratcliffe, president of the Columbia chapter told ABC17 News.
Ms Burrows explained that while she believes in the First Amendment, she did not think it was just to fly a Confederate flag.
“I didn’t think it was fair and even though it’s everyone’s right to express their opinion and free speech which I respect. I didn’t want that flag to speak for me,” she told ABC 17 News.
In an update to the fundraiser’s page, Ms Burrows said that the reaction to her project was “overwhelming”.
“The response to this billboard message has been overwhelming & positive. I am reading every comment & my heart is full. This has exceeded every expectation I set when this was started. With this support, we can continue to exercise our right to free speech for the foreseeable future.”
She said that donations had come in from all over the country, from states including Minnesota, Pennsylvania and California.
According to reports, the flag is sitting on private property so cannot be removed by authorities.
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