The only ruckus during the rally occurred when Allison said during her brief address that people should not be telling others what to do, asking, “Where does it end?”

Specifically, she cited the “uproar over the rebel flag,” in a reference to the current movement to ban the display of the Confederate battle flag in public places across the South based on the belief that it automatically connotes racism. 

To the contrary, Allison said, to her and those she knows, it simply stands for Southern pride and heritage — and that they like the flag while being opposed to racism.

That comment prompted shouts of anger and disagreement from several rally attendees, including some who are African-Americans, who contended that the display of the Confederate battle flag was racist and offensive.

Allison expressed her disagreement, asserting, “It (the flag) doesn’t hurt anyone.”

 

Moreoever, she held her ground and did not allow herself to be shouted down, asking again, “Where does it end?” where others tell people what to do, relating that question to the issue of toplessness for women.

“My breasts have killed no one,” she noted.

After her speech, Allison told the Daily Planet that she was “not surprised” to hear opposition to the Confederate battle flag from those at a rally in downtown Asheville. She reiterated that “I’m against society telling people what to do.”

She added, “As far as taking it (the flag) down — that’s like erasing history.”

Meanwhile, Johnson, the rally organizer, said in his address that toplessness for women in public was first allowed in Asheville in 1873.

In 1970, he said North Carolina was the first state in the nation to allow toplessness by both men and women — and that legislation was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1973.

Johnson lambasted Asheville City Council for trying “to stop this kind of thing for the last 16 years.”

He said Montana “looked at it (banning female toplessness in public) for one day — and decided they couldn’t do it.”

Johnson then reiterated, “Asheville City Council tried to stop it, but there’s no way to stop it. There’s never been any harm in that (female toplessness), period.

“Anyway, that’s a brief history... Asheville Cty Council in 5,000 to 6,000 days” will determine “that it should be legal.

“I ask the women here — should you be in control of your own breasts. I say, ‘yes!’ Tell Raleigh,” Johnson said in reference to the state General Assembly.

Further, he asserted, “I can’t find one example of damage (to anyone) from exposure to a female breast.”

Johnson said “some” of the police “don’t like toplessness.” If anyone at the rally had a topless problem with the police in the future, he asked that he be notified via Facebook at GotopfreeJeffJohnson and that he would make sure that that person gets legal help.

After his speech, Johnson took another jab at City Council during an interview with the Daily Planet, noting, “It’s time they (council) backed the women... Let the women win because they’re going to win anyway.”

Johnson also said, “I suspected (there would be) a media blackout” on the Go Topless rally in Asheville. “I suspected they’d ask the media not to say anything” about it.

When asked who is “they,” Johnson replied, “Asheville City Council.”

However, he praised Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer because she “has started to say the same stuff I’ve said” that the city will “have to follow the 14th Amendment.”

Sandra Meares, one of the popular young topless women at the rally and a resident of Northern Alabama, told the Daily Planet that she had been downtown the entire weekend, walking around topless, and had had “more problems with women than with men. 

“I think it’s more about jealousy” with women opponents. However, as for the men, “It’s just about boobs, not sex,” Meares said.