Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect that the event’s organizers say they will not burn a Confederate flag, as originally reported.
Organizers of an event planned for Thursday to protest a historical Confederate group’s meeting on LSU’s campus will not be able to hold the protest at BREC’s Milford Wampold Park on Stanford Avenue, according to BREC Superintendent Carolyn McKnight.
That’s not because of any ideological problems with the demonstration, however, which was organized by the LSU chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to protest an upcoming meeting of the United Daughters of the Confederacy at LSU’s Lod Cook Conference Center and Hotel. Rather, it’s because the NAACP chapter has not filed a special events permit with BREC, as required by BREC regulations.
“We have reached out to them to let them know they need a special events permit to hold this event,” says McKnight. “And they needed to have filed for it at least 30 days prior to the event.”
BREC regulations require that any group that wants to use a BREC park or facility for commercial, religious, civic or political reasons obtain a special events permits if the event is open to the public.
LSU NAACP chapter president Cimajie Best reportedly invited various campus group to join the event, which she told The Advocate would be a celebration of the Black Lives Matter movement and also a time of “good food and fellowship” to promote unity. The event was to be called a Confederate “barbecue” because the flag was to be “roasted,” at least figuratively, on a grill.
—Stephanie Riegel
