Hundreds roll into Hillsborough for heritage rally

Hillsborough police said they expected about 1,500 people on both sides of the debate over the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments in the south to attend the Southern Heritage Ride/Rally Saturday.

Posted 4:06 p.m. Aug 8, 2015 — Updated 7:29 p.m. Aug 8, 2015

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — "If you think the Alamance County Rally was big, wait 'til you see this one," Catherine Chambers wrote in an email to WRAL News about Saturday's Official Southern Heritage Ride and Rally.

Organizers from Orange, Person, Guilford, Forsyth, Alamance and Wayne counties joined together to promote a rally from 2 to 4 p.m. on the lawn of the Hillsborough Town Hall.

Hundreds of drivers packed the parking lot at Granddaddy's Antiques in Burlington Saturday morning with cars and trucks bristling with Confederate flags before a caravan set out from Burlington to attend.

Along Hillsborough's Churton Street, those in support of the rally faced off with a group flying a huge American flag.

"The Official Southern Heritage Ride is not about preserving Southern history but about highlighting and continuing a racist system that gives white people power and privilege at the expense of people of color," said Noah Rubin-Blose. "We want to name and interrupt the hatred and racism that is underneath the pro-Confederate movement organizing in our hometowns."

Hillsborough police issued a traffic advisory for Saturday afternoon, suggesting that those not associated with the event choose other routes through town. Police expected traffic delays in downtown Hillsborough from about 1 to 5 p.m.

The Facebook page for the Southern Heritage Ride showed more than 500 people had committed to participate. "We hope you will come out and join us to show that we are not going to allow politicians and politically correct men and women to control us and strip us of our rights," the invitation read.

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