Confederate flag underscores division at gun rally

The flying of a large Confederate flag at a gun rights rally at Back Cove startled onlookers Sunday, even causing an African-American teenager to refuse to leave his vehicle out of fear, witnesses said.

Those on the "open carry" side said they were simply celebrating their Second Amendment rights and didn't intend to frighten anyone by displaying firearms — a sign of the gulf dividing the two sides in Sunday's opposing protests.

Shane Belanger, a University of Southern Maine student who organized the display of guns in the open carry rally, told news outlets that the aim of the gathering wasn't to frighten anyone but to show that people have a constitutional right to bear arms.

But this message didn't translate for counter-protesters, especially those who spotted the Confederate flag flying over an anti-Obama sign at one protester's site.

"It's akin to a modern day lynching," one critic said, describing the chilling message the Confederate flag sends to many.

Witnesses said one young African-American man wouldn't leave his car out of fear of seeing the flag and gun-carrying protesters.

Wells Staley-Mays, an activist with Peace Action Maine who wielded a sign with the gun control rally, called the open carry protesters "racists."

"The group that was holding the pro-gun rally are totally racist, white supremacist, and I believe that they wouldn't have been out front if we didn't have a black president," Staley-Mays said. "I think they're totally freaked by the fact that there's a black president, so they upped their ante."

"The fact that they had Confederate flags also set off alarm bells, and the fact that they put their Confederate flags above the American flag didn't endear them," he said.

Staley-Mays said he also was alarmed by the sight of armed police separating the two protests.

"Those people were not the only people there with guns, the police had guns. ... I did not feel secure at all," he said.

Dan Skolnik, a Portland City Councilor and organizer of Sunday's counterprotest in favor of gun control, praised the police, saying they "were the ones that made it the success that it was."

"A big success. A big success all the way around," Skolnik said when asked for his impression of the dueling rallies. "I thought it was democracy at its best. You had two sides coming out to share their views on a controversial issue."

"I was surprised by the Confederate flag, I was surprised by that," Skolnik said.

"I think it would be fair enough for me to say that the Confederate flag, I found it disappointing. I found it disappointing because that's not the issue. The issue that we were seeking to raise yesterday, and I think we did, was whether public safety in Portland is helped or hindered by having no restrictions on openly carrying a loaded weapon in Portland," he said.

Staley-Mays criticized the counter-protest for failing to deliver a message that guns contribute to domestic violence.

"I saw no connections made between gun violence and domestic violence when we know huge numbers of people, women, are killed by people who in some cases have legally registered guns," he said. "I went and I held a sign, and I thought the response from the community was pathetic."

Staley-Mays also said the lack of minorities in the gun control rally was troubling.

"No African-American or dark men in the counter-protest" weakened the impact, he said.

But Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the Portland Chapter of the NAACP and director of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Affairs for the city of Portland, said she heard from members of the NAACP "who said they simply didn't want to give these people any of their time or energy."

Talbot Ross, whose father, Gerald Talbot, was the first African-American legislator in Maine history and who championed gun control legislation, said she briefly protested for gun control at Sunday's counterprotest.

"I was mostly down there to support my father, he had tried to get gun control legislation passed back in the 1970s," she said.

Talbot Ross said was troubled by the Confederate flag at the protest.

"There is another historic legacy that communities have to deal with, and one of those communities is mine in which rights have been abused to terrorize people. When I see a Confederate flag and a bunch of people with guns, it recalls a time in this country when there's been a genocide on my people. It evokes that period of history, and it makes me scared, quite frankly," she said.

The open carry protesters, on the other hand, said their fears stemmed from rampant government growth. Dave Nelson, of Gorham, one of the open carry protesters, told The Associated Press he doesn't like what's happening in the country regarding work ethic and government intrusion into people's lives.

"Things are changing drastically," said Nelson, who wore a 9 mm handgun in a holster. "The government owns too many things. It's trying to control people."

Skolnik said he supports legislation to allow the city of Portland to require permits for people to display their guns in public. But he said Monday, in the wake of the protests, he wasn't adopting this issue as his cause.

"I don't see myself taking it on, I see myself certainly advocating to the legislature that we have a statewide change that would allow us to address this in Portland, but it would be the legislature that would have to act before we in Portland could do it," he said.

Staley-Mays said he would like to see gun control remain an issue with a more diverse group of people entering the discussion.

"I hope we don't just drop it," he said. "I hope we make it a larger conversation about the people who need to be included in the conversation, which includes victims of domestic violence and dark-skinned men."