Black Lives Matter brings protest to Branson’s Dixie Outfitters

BRANSON, Mo. — Known for its country music theaters, over-thetop attractions and allyou-can-eat buffets, the Branson strip on Sunday was the site of an hourslong showdown between Black Lives Matter protesters and supporters of the Confederate flag.

For the second weekend in a row, demonstrators targeted the Dixie Outfitters store on the 76 strip. But this time, they had company.

A few dozen supporters of the store filled the parking lot of the business, hanging Confederate flags off their pickups, blaring songs like “Song of the South” and “Sweet Home Alabama” over loudspeakers.

Protesters said the store is a vestige of a bygone era and an offensive reminder of the nation’s racist past. Aside from selling all manner of Confederate-themed merchandise, store owners Anna and Nathan Robb have family ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Nathan is the son of Thomas Robb, an Arkansas-based pastor who assumed leadership of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s following the departure of David Duke.

“They have enabled the spread of hate,” said Quinn Foster, director of the group Arkansas Hate Watch who attended the protest.

Aside from the owners’ history, he said the Confederate flags on display there were simply unpatriotic.

“This is America. We don’t support states that rebelled against us for slavery,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. That flag up there is no different than burning the American flag.”

Foster, who is Black, was encouraged to see many white allies in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The group of more than 150 demonstrators was mostly white.

“It means a lot. It shows they want us here with them,” he said. “They want us to participate in society with them. They want us to be full Americans.”

A week before, demonstrators marched more than two miles from Dixie Outfitters to the Branson Landing. But this week, they stayed put. At first, they stood across the street from the store, but eventually most moved across and stood on the sidewalk directly in front of Dixie Outfitters.

“With them being here, we thought it’d be more impactful if we stayed,” said Damz Mikhail, an organizer with the group, which was joined by protesters from Springfield and the surrounding area.

Anna Robb was in the parking lot Sunday but declined to speak with reporters. At one point, a man went into the store and distributed Confederate flags still wrapped in plastic to supporters outside. The store’s Facebook page posted several video clips of the protest, calling demonstrators “thugs” in one post.

“They hate our country! They hate patriotism, faith and freedom! But God still reigns over Branson, MO!” the store’s post read.

Several supporters of the store declined to be interviewed.