Politics

Black Backer of Confederate Flag Was Anomaly in Mississippi

Published

9 years ago

July 22, 2015

In this May 8, 2000, file photograph, Anthony Hervey holds a Confederate flag while standing underneath the Confederate monument in Oxford, Miss. The Highway Patrol says 49-year-old Hervey was killed Sunday, July 19, 2015, when his 2005 Ford Explorer left the roadway and overturned on Mississippi Highway 6 in Lafayette County. (Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle via AP, File)

EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — In a town where Confederate soldier statues stand sentinel on the courthouse square and a university campus, Anthony Hervey remained an anomaly — a black man who draped himself in the Confederate battle flag and publicly declared his loyalty to the secessionist Lost Cause and his belief that the Civil War was not fought over slavery.

Hervey, 49, died Sunday when the sport utility vehicle he was driving flipped into a ditch beside Mississippi Highway 6 near Oxford. He and another black Confederate supporter were returning home after speaking at an event to support a Confederate monument in Birmingham, Alabama.

The passenger, Arlene Barnum of Stuart, Oklahoma, survived and told The Associated Press that Hervey lost control of her vehicle after they were chased by a silver or gray sedan carrying four or five black men.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol is interviewing witnesses and reconstructing the crash, said patrol spokesman Johnny Poulos. The local coroner, Rocky Kennedy, said Tuesday that he was waiting for autopsy results.

Hervey was well known in Oxford and at the University of Mississippi, where students waved Confederate flags for decades to cheer the Rebels.

In Hervey’s 2006 book, “Why I Wave the Confederate Flag, Written by a Black Man,” he said the Civil War was not fought over slavery and that he was supporting black soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War.

Even people who had known Hervey for years say they didn’t always understand him.

Randal McJunkins, 47, said he and Hervey had known each other since they were Oxford High School students in the 1980s and they had played basketball together in recent years. McJunkins called Hervey by his nickname Tony, and described him as smart and opinionated.

“He was different, I can say that,” McJunkins said. “If you knew him, you knew what to say to him, what not to say to him.”

McJunkins, who is black, recalled seeing Hervey around Oxford wearing a Confederate uniform and waving a flag. Several years ago, Hervey walked about 25 miles from Oxford to Batesville carrying a large rebel flag.

“I always wanted to ask him, what was the deal with that,” McJunkins said Monday.

In 2000 and 2001, Hervey made several appearances around Mississippi, speaking against a proposal to remove the Confederate battle emblem that has been on the state flag since Reconstruction. State voters decided in 2001 to keep the flag design, but now some people are saying the issue should be reconsidered.

Barnum said organizers of Saturday’s Alabama event had asked her to give Hervey a ride there. She said she didn’t know him previously.

Barnum and Hervey both spoke at the rally, and Barnum said she burned an NAACP membership card during her speech. A video shows the crowd cheered when Hervey said he doesn’t like black people or white people, “but I love me some Southerners.”

The public display of Confederate symbols has come under fresh scrutiny since the June 17 massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The white man charged in the killings had posed with a Confederate battle flag in photos posted online before the attack.

At the Alabama rally, Hervey called attempts to remove Confederate symbols and monuments “an assault on working-class people.”

Hervey also said: “You know what white guilt is? If I can accuse you of something you ain’t have nothing to do with, and I do it long enough and I put on ‘Twelve Years a Slave’ and ‘Mississippi Burning,’ I program your children. This is where the racism comes in, that white guilt.”

Barnum said that as she and Hervey were traveling home Sunday, she let Hervey drive. She said he stopped at a convenience store, and she remained in the vehicle as he went in. She said Hervey was wearing a Confederate kepi, or military hat. Barnum said soon after they left the store, a car with four or five young black men pulled up near them.

“They were angry with Mr. Hervey,” Barnum said. “Mr. Hervey sped up and said, ‘Hell, no.’ … He really had to gun it on the gas pedal.”

Barnum said Hervey didn’t have time to explain what was happening. “I could have sworn that they knew him because of his reaction to them,” she said.

She said the car ran Hervey off the highway, and the SUV rolled over. Barnum said she unbuckled herself and told Hervey he should take a pocket knife off her key chain and cut his seatbelt. She said he was breathing but didn’t respond.

Hervey died at the scene. Funeral arrangements had not been made by Tuesday.

___

Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

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11 hours ago

April 26, 2024

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MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

Published

6 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Mayor London Breed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

$42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
$318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
$445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
$6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
$750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
$2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.