Confederate Flag rally draws 100 to Houston mall

About 100 people in trucks and on motorcycles flying Confederate flags and honking their horns gathered Saturday at Gulfgate Mall, a shopping center near the intersection of the Gulf Freeway and Interstate 610, before driving to Galveston to barbecue on the beach. less About 100 people in trucks and on motorcycles flying Confederate flags and honking their horns gathered Saturday at Gulfgate Mall, a shopping center near the intersection of the Gulf Freeway and Interstate 610, ... more Photo: Metro Video Photo: Metro Video Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Confederate Flag rally draws 100 to Houston mall 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

About 100 people in trucks and on motorcycles flying Confederate flags and honking their horns gathered Saturday at Gulfgate Mall, a shopping center near the intersection of the Gulf Freeway and Interstate 610, before driving to Galveston to barbecue on the beach.

"They're trying to take our history away," said Justin L., who declined to give his full last name but said he is with the Texas Coal Rollers Society, a diesel truck club. "We're trying to make a movement, trying to encourage people to keep flying what they do because it's the history of this country."

He said flying the flag is not racist.

"It's not hate, man, it's just heritage," he said. "It's what our country was founded on so we want to keep it going ... don't give in to them."

The rally, dubbed by some as Operation Save The Flag, comes in the midst of weeks of protests across the country about whether to remove the flag from state buildings after the killing of nine people in a black church in downtown Charleston on June 17.

Authorities say the alleged shooter, a 21-year-old white man named Dylann Roof, came to the church to carry out a racially-motivated attack. Photos and videos emerged with Roof holding the Confederate flag and reports indicate he'd read 34 various materials from white supremacist groups online before plotting his crime.

The rampage has once again raised the contentious debate about the flag's continued presence in private and public life. On Monday, South Carolina lawmakers will start debating whether to remove the flag from state battlegrounds.

Saturday's rally was painful to some who watched on.

"They have a right to protest but they came in our neighborhood to do that," said Kelvin Brown, who is African-American. "You want to make a point, you could do that anywhere, you see what I'm saying? Why come here and do that and just add on to the pain we feel already ... that really, really just didn't seem right to do that."

Another rally is planned for 3 p.m. Sunday at the Harris County District Court, according to a Facebook page for an event called Stand by the Flag.