Calls for the removal of the flags began in 2015, after the Charleston church shooting, by Rev. Marva Edwards, the president of Vancouver's NAACP chapter. Even though the markers and flags are located on private property, they are and were intended to be highly visible (to all cars travelling Interstate 5). Their visibility, and events in other parts of the nation regarding Confederate memorials, still make these symbols a local focus of strong emotions, especially in the aftermath of the white nationalist Unite the Right rally August 11–12, 2017. On August 17, 2017 the stones were vandalized, with one marker covered in black paint, the other in red. Antifa activists from nearby Portland took credit for the vandalism. The local Division Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans spoke of bringing in private security to prevent more vandalism; their leadership said they have received death threats over the monuments, "amid a tide of calls to remove Confederate monuments in the wake of Charlottesville violence of August, 2017".