President Obama was greeted by a small group of demonstrators waving Confederate flags when he arrived at his hotel in Oklahoma City Wednesday night.
Obama is in town to deliver remarks about the economy and visit the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution outside of Oklahoma City on Thursday, which will mark the first visit by a sitting president to a federal prison.
The Confederate flag, long a highly-controversial symbol, returned to the spotlight after the mass-shooting at a predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina that left nine dead. Shooter Dylann Roof's
The Confederate flag was removed from Oklahoma's state capitol in 1988 for renovations. It never returned.
Organizers of the small rally in Oklahoma City said in advance of the event that their demonstration was an effort to tout their "Southern heritage." A woman who posted about the event on Facebook told the Tulsa Frontier that it was organized by a Facebook group called "Stand By the Flag Rally."
A pool reporter in the Obama convoy reported that the demonstrators numbered no more than ten people, and they were a part of a crowd that included Obama supporters and several African-Americans.
Earlier on Wednesday, demonstrators were seen gathering in Durant, Oklahoma, ahead of the president's arrival on Wednesday.
Demonstrators in Durant are preparing for @POTUS's Oklahoma visit with Confederate flags http://t.co/LV85UtUZdf pic.twitter.com/Dd4FfY8oVD— OU Daily (@OUDaily) July 15, 2015
Anyone in Durant OK area that wants to support the cause raise your flag and set them loose loud and proud! Let Obama see what we are about!— REBEL RAIDER (@raider_rebel) July 13, 2015
Residents there tweeted that they were "ashamed to be associated" with the demonstrators and that they weren't all "ignorant."
Ashamed to be associated with Durant Oklahoma.— Wyatt (@WyattMcMinn) July 15, 2015
Hey @POTUS I would just like you to know not all Oklahomans are as ignorant as the confederate flag waving people that welcomed you to OK.— Coach Woolbright (@CaptainMammoth) July 16, 2015
Others expressed dismay at the perceived ignorance of the protesters; while it did host a pro-Confederate insurgency among Native American tribes and Texas forces, Oklahoma was never a part of the Confederacy.
It became the country's 46th state in 1907.
To the Oklahomans who say the Confederate flag is part of their heritage: news flash OKLAHOMA WAS NEVER APART OF THE CONFEDERACY— Susan (@Susan_Danielle) July 16, 2015
What are Oklahomans proud of when holding the confederate flag? A state that wasn't in the south that they weren't alive to experience?— Justin Douillard (@jdouillard15) July 16, 2015
Just last week, the president received a similar greeting in Nashville, Tennessee, when he visited a local school to make a speech about the Affordable Care Act.
Across the street from #obamatn visit site. That's at least one Confederate flag. pic.twitter.com/800LtU5ac9— Jill Cowan (@JillCowan) July 1, 2015
Confederate flag supporters touted "Southern heritage" during @POTUS visit http://t.co/EIgKbz5THc #ObamaTN pic.twitter.com/a6CCOUtNDO— The Tennessean (@Tennessean) July 2, 2015
Obama praised South Carolina lawmakers for passing the legislation to pull down the flag, which he called "a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation" when he spoke at the June 26 funeral for the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was a victim of the shooting.
"It's true a flag did not cause these murders. But the flag was a reminder of oppression," he said. "By taking down that flag, we express God's grace."