Confederate flag-waving crowd indicted for allegedly terrorizing black community

Last July, an African-Amercian family was hosting a birthday party for their young daughter at home in Douglasville, GA, a community in the greater Atlanta area.   A convoy of at least seven pickup trucks, sporting large Confederate flags flapping from poles mounted on their trucks, repeatedly drove by the house in what seemed an intentionally intimidating manner.

The person hosting the party says that people in the trucks shouted threats and racial slurs at their guests as they rode by and then parked on a grassy field next to the house.  At least one gun was flashed and someone threatened to "shoot the [racial slur]."

One of the truck drivers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they were members of the group "Respect the Flag," who were leaving a nearby event and just happened to drive by where the party was being held.   He said that partygoers started the altercation by shouting at them and throwing rocks as they rode by.

I'm inclined to believe the residents whose party was interrupted.  Pickup trucks, Confederate flags, a bunch of protesters all fired-up from their "event," spotting a group of black people enjoying themselves . . . ??     If the flag-guys weren't looking to cause a little trouble, why didn't they just drive on by?

But here's the surprising thing and why this July event is back in the news:   The 15 drivers and passengers of the pickup trucks have been charged under the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

This law has very broad parameters of who can be charged, and this is the first time it has been used for this kind of act.   But it is not hard to see how it might apply -- especially if you think of the history of white-robed and hooded vigilantes galloping through black neighborhoods with flaming torches to terrorize and often lynch blacks.  That is the historical context that, for this black family, must be considered in evaluating whether this constituted terrorism.

One more context:   This incident happened just eight days after the mass shooting in the Charleston church by a white supremacist zealot who also "respected the flag" and whose act led to the flag controversy that prompted such groups and rallies (probably the "event" the pickup-truckers were coming from).

Terror?   In these contexts?  You bet.   It'll be an interesting trial, if a judge doesn't throw it out of court first.

Ralph