The protesters included local activist JD Dixon and Belleville native Claire Howell, who said her best friend’s childhood home is located in the neighborhood where resident Stewart Lannert displays the Confederate flag, swastikas and references the enslavement of Black people on plantations in yard signs that express his political views.
They marched through the street with police escorts from Union Elementary to Lannert’s South 29th Street home, where he sat in the yard as they passed. The protesters continued to the fountain on Public Square in downtown Belleville, where a separate event was taking place. They carried signs reading, “No racism in our neighborhoods” and “Fight white supremacy.”
The Confederate flag was created to represent the pro-slavery Confederate States of America during the Civil War. In an interview with the BND on Saturday, Lannert said he sees it as a symbol of American history and criticized similar protests that led to the removal of statutes of historical figures.
“I think we should honor history, good or bad,” Lannert said.
He said he’s encouraging people to think for themselves with the signs referencing plantations. Another of Lannert’s signs compares an Illinois politician to a Nazi.
Lannert said the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech allows him to display the signs. Dixon and Howell acknowledged that fact during Saturday’s protest, but they said they wanted to speak out against the symbols’ display where Black children could see them.
“This is their own neighborhood,” Dixon said. “They deserve to feel safe.”
The protesters would like to see local ordinances created that would prohibit signs like Lannert’s, according to Dixon. He said some of the protesters may attend a Belleville City Council meeting in the future to share their views with Mayor Patty Gregory directly.
Organizers of the protest, including Empire 13 and Solidarity Coalition STL/Metro East, also used Saturday’s event to raise awareness about a plan that conservative organizations have created for when a Republican president is elected, which the local groups oppose.
The plan is designed to “hasten the implementation of conservative policy,” Kevin Roberts, president of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, told the New York Times Magazine in January.
Dixon said the plan would roll back federal protections for civil rights, women and the LGBTQ community.