Oklahoma City protesters greet Obama by waving Confederate flag

Oklahoma City protesters wave the Confederate flag for President Obama

(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

published 16 July 2015

President Obama touched down in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, a day before he is scheduled to visit a federal prison to highlight criminal justice issues. A crowd met Obama across the street from his hotel, and in between the well-wishers was a handful of demonstrators with a different kind of welcome:

"We don’t believe it's a symbol of racism," Andrew Duncomb, an organizer of the protest, told KFOR News. "Look at these people, they all followed the black guy out here. Do you think that any of them are racists?" What's now Oklahoma was called Indian Territory during the Civil War, and several of the tribes aligned with the Confederacy after Confederate forces from Texas and Arkansas captured poorly protected Union forts. Other tribes sided with the Union.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.