RICHMOND, Va. -- About two dozen area residents held signs in support of black lives and asked others to speak out against hate outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond’s Museum District Saturday.
The group said they wanted to send a strong message in the wake of the Charleston church shooting to the Virginia Flaggers group.
Members of that group regularly stand with Confederate flags outside the Confederate Memorial Chapel on the museum’s property since the flag was prohibited from being displayed outside the historic structure in 2010, according to RVA News.
Since Saturday was African-American Family Day at the VMFA, the black lives matter group wanted to make sure visitors did not feel intimated by the vestiges of the Old South.
"I couldn't stand the thought of black families being in the VMFA and having to see these guys insult their history and glorify the massacre of black people and enslavement of black people,” protestor Camille Rudney.
A handful of Virginia Flaggers stood on the sidewalk holding their flags near the chapel, but said they had no comment regarding the other protesters.
