This past week, officials in New Orleans have been removing Confederate monuments to the city. There was growing sentiment that these statues honor racists and the system of White supremacy in Louisiana. Protestors against the removal of the monuments have stood vigil hoping to stop the removal. One such protestor is a Black woman named Arlene Barnum, a native of Oklahoma who grew up in Louisiana.
Like many Black confederate supporters, she feels that these monuments are a part of history and should not be removed. Her Facebook page, subtitled Arlene’s Army, is full of her live stream videos with White confederate supporters and she has friendly interaction.
She stated to media, “It’s about being on the right side of history. I felt I needed to be at the (monument) for Jefferson Davis because he was the one and only president of the Confederate States of America. He’s the most significant of all the monuments to be taken down.”
Barnum was a friend of fellow Black Confederate Flag waiver Anthony Hervey. In 2015, Barnum and Hervey were in a car accident after traveling from a pro-Confederate event. Hervey, originally from Oxford, Mississippi, had traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to show his support for the flag. While traveling back to Oxford, his car was involved in a rollover crash. The cause of the crash, according to passenger Arlene Barnum, was the fact that Hervey believed he was being chased and was run off the road. Barnum posted to her Facebook page during the car chase on July 19, 2015, “HELP. They after us. My vehicle inside [sic] down.”
Hervey was an outspoken Black Confederate flag supporter for several decades and wrote a book titled Why I Wave the Confederate Flag, Written by a Black Man: The End of Niggerism and the Welfare State.
