On Saturday a black child's birthday party in Douglasville, Ga., took a racist turn after, witnesses say, several men driving Confederate-flag-bearing pickup trucks interrupted the gathering and began yelling racial slurs and threats at the partygoers.
"One had a gun, saying he was gonna kill the [racial slur]," Melissa Alford, who hosted the party at her house, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Then one of them said, 'Gimme the gun, I'll shoot them [racial slur].' "
According to the Journal-Constitution, which obtained footage of the incident, several members of a group called Protect the Flag happened upon the birthday party.
Levi Bush, the leader of the pickup-truck clan, claims that his group isn't hateful, although he admits the word "n—ger" and other racial epithets were used freely during the confrontation. Bush says his group sells Confederate flags and donates the money to veterans who need it.
Bush claims that he and his group were leaving an event when his truck caught a flat. He claims that his friends stopped to help and that that is when the birthday-party attendees began yelling at and threatening them.
Two video recordings of the aftermath of the incident viewed by the AJC show police keeping members of the party at bay while the pickup-truck convoy leaves the scene. One partygoer can be heard yelling, "This is a child's birthday party." At one point, a member of the convoy yells something to the crowd. What's stated is inaudible, but partygoers demand that police stop him. "That is a threat!" one person can be heard yelling.
Police say that both sides agreed that there was no physical altercation but gave conflicting reports as to what led up to the conflict. Police officials told the newspaper that they are reviewing the footage to "see if any criminal activity occurred."
Alford, who hasn't stayed at her home since the incident took place, told the AJC that she doesn't mind people who love the Confederate flag, but she says this situation crossed the line.
"I don't have a problem if that's their culture," Alford told the AJC. "If they want to make a statement that these flags mean something to them, I'm OK with that. But you've got to do it right. You can't go around just blatantly terrorizing people."
Read more at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.