Black Confederate flag activist says fatal car wreck was no accident: ‘They’re after us’

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July 20, 2015

Anthony Hervey (second from left) and Arlene Barnum (third from right) with activists at a pro-Confederate flag rally in Birmingham (c/o Julie Bodenheimer‎)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Anthony Hervey, an Oxford, Mississippi, native and African-American Confederate flag activist died in a car wreck on the way home from a “Save our South” rally in Birmingham, now some are concerned the fatal crash wasn’t an accident.

Also in the car at the time of the wreck was Arlene Barnum, who survived with minor injuries, and says the wreck was caused by a silver car which chased them before swerving to the passenger side and forcing them off the road. Barnum made several posts to Facebook detailing her concerns immediately preceding and after the wreck.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Johnny Poulos said the accident took place on Highway 6 near the Pontotoc County line around 11:20 a.m. According to his report, the two were traveling west in a 2005 Ford Explorer when it left the road and the driver overcorrected and the vehicle flipped.

Poulos said no more forensic details can be released until accident reconstructionists look at the evidence, adding “[t]omorrow will probably be a busy day.”

Attendees of Saturday’s event are speaking out, blaming Birmingham city officials for the wreck and Hervey’s death.

“I want the Birmingham Parks and Recreations board to know that they are ultimately responsible for this tragedy,” said Ginger Barbee, an attorney for the group that sponsored the event. “If they had not voted to remove the monument, this young, heroic black man would still be alive. They have caused so much racial division in a great city which has had very few racial issues since the Civil Rights movement. Anthony Hervey gave his life for something he believed in, reaching across racial lines to preserve history and protect our Constitutional rights… Our prayers go out to his family during this time. He will be remembered.”

Hervey is the author of Why I wave the Confederate Flag: Written by a Black Man, and is well-known in Mississippi for wearing a Confederate solider’s uniform and waving the controversial Confederate battle flag.

This story may be updated as more details emerge.