A few dozen LSU NAACP members waited out the drizzling rain at the LSU golf course for grilled chicken and music Thursday night, while local reporters stood by in anticipation of a counter-protest expected by many on social media.
The group organized the barbecue in response to the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s annual three-day meeting at the Lod Cook hotel at LSU.
Meanwhile, LSUPD escorted former Ku Klux Klan leader and former Louisiana state Rep. David Duke out of the Lod Cook Alumni Center after he spoke to the UDC and was involved in a heated exchange outside the building. UDC members told Duke he was not invited, said LSU Media Relations Director Ernie Ballard.
At 5:30 p.m., a handful of people crowded the canopied hallway adjacent to the golf course’s clubhouse, and a student proclaimed she was there to witness the Confederate flag burning.
“There won’t be any flag-burning,” responded LSU NAACP President Cimajie Best.
Best, a philosophy senior with a minor in African-American studies, said she organized the event as a celebration of black lives and why they matter. But she said it would be a lie to say the event was not in response to the UDC meeting.
“I don’t want anyone to think this is a protest. It’s a rally. It’s not anything radical like that,” Best said. “They are exercising their freedom to utilize that space, so that’s what we’re gonna do over here.”
Best said if Duke showed up, she would offer him a hotdog.
While the group did not burn a flag, chant or hoist signs, Best spoke briefly of Confederate symbols and culture.
“It wasn’t too long ago that we had purple and gold Confederate flags around here,” Best said.
While she does not agree with the UDC or the values they promote, Best said the group is allowed to exercise its right to free speech.
American Civil Liberties Union Representative Stephen Dixon attended the event because his attention was sparked by reports of a potential Confederate flag burning.
Dixon said he wondered whether anyone would enforce a Louisiana law criminalizing the desecration of a Confederate flag even though the law is an unconstitutional statute.
“I need to make sure that goes down in accordance with our principles of free speech and free expression,” Dixon said.
Black Lives Matter activism is needed to shed light on criminal injustice and raise awareness of the need for reforms, Dixon said.
He also said he wanted to let people remember history — specifically history of Duke in “full Nazi regalia, marching on the LSU campus,” requiring him to explain whether or not his fundamental views have changed.
Duke never showed, however, and NAACP members embraced a break in the clouds, as students fired up a barbecue pit and left the clubhouse to enjoy music and temporarily clear skies.
NAACP Vice President Monturios Howard grills chicken and hotdogs at an event aimed to shed light on race issues on campus.
