Arrested Georgia Militiaman Also Neo-Confederate Activist
Emory Dan Roberts, 67, who was one of four militia members in a wide-ranging terrorism plot, was also a neo-Confederate activist who has rubbed elbows with hate group leaders.
In 2003, Roberts helped organize a protest in Toccoa, Ga., against attempts to change the Georgia state flag, which at that time featured the Confederate battle flag in its design. The flag was replaced in 2003 by referendum.
Roberts鈥� 鈥淕eorgia State Flag Rally鈥� had on the bill prominent members of neo-Confederate hate groups. One of the speakers listed was Nelson Waller, a South Carolinian who has been a member of the hate groups (CCC), which believes 鈥渕ixing the races is rebelliousness against God,鈥� and the (LOS), a secessionist organization. League leader Jack Kershaw once opined, 鈥淪omebody needs to say a good word for slavery.鈥�
Waller told Hatewatch that Roberts was a 鈥済ood friend鈥� and that the allegations were likely a 鈥渢rumped up charge.鈥� He said Roberts was a 鈥渟taunch ally鈥� in the battle for the former Georgia flag and that he was glad Roberts was involved in a militia. 鈥淲e need more of that,鈥� he said.
Also on tap that day was Mike Crane, an LOS member who is also a lifetime member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), an organization made up of the male descendants of confederate soldiers that has been infiltrated at the highest levels by members of hate groups. H.K. Edgerton, a black neo-Confederate who argues slavery was good for his people, also spoke.
In 2004, Roberts was the of pro-confederate flag rally that took place outside a middle school in Stephens County, Ga. The rally included several protestors carrying Confederate flags. Law enforcement officers were called in as a safety precaution, and a rock was allegedly thrown at a school bus. One of Roberts鈥� fellow protestors, Larry Leitgeb, was .
