Residents demand city action on Branson's Dixie Outfitters

Members of the public yesterday called on the city of Branson to condemn Dixie Outfitters.

The store specializes in Confederate-flag themed merchandise, and its owners have ties to the Ku Klux Klan. In a recent Black Lives Matter protest outside the store, a woman was filmed waving the Confederate flag, telling protesters in Branson, "I will teach my grandkids to hate you all.”

“It hurts me to hear these things,” Alderman Bill Skains said at the meeting yesterday. “They have no part in this community and I wish they would get the hell out of it.”

Mayor Edd Akers issued a proclamation "promoting unity and condemning hate speech." But residents said more action is warranted, such as the removal of Confederate flags from the city's entertainment district, of which Dixie Outfitters is a part.

Read more from The Kansas City Star.