Fest To Feature Confederate Flags

Along with performances by artists including Tracy Lawrence and Mark Chesnutt, Cajun Country Jam will feature replicas of the General Lee Dodge Charger from the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard,” which boasted a large Confederate flag on its roof, plus cast members from the show.

This is a controversial time for the flag following the mass shooting last month at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. Last week, the governor of Alabama ordered the removal of four Confederate flags from a monument at the state’s capitol, and the governors of Georgia and Virginia recently halted production of specialty license plates featuring the flag.

Still, festival producer Scott Innes told The Advocate of Baton Rouge that Cajun Country Jam will not ban attendees from bringing Confederate flags to the show or wearing the design on their clothing.

“There is not controversy about that flag out here,” Innes said. “Here’s the deal – the flag is not racist; people are.” He continued that the flag is a cultural symbol that’s been blown out of proportion by the media and that the festival itself would display only American flags. “This is a patriotic (concert),” he said.

Daniel Landry, the president of a local chapter of the NAACP, disagreed with Innes’ take on the meaning behind the flag, but also defended individuals’ rights to display the flag in their private lives it so long as it doesn’t lead to violence.

“It means something to people of color that may be different than Southern pride,” he told the paper. “We see it as something completely different.”