This symbolic reversal explains why the event has endured in memory far beyond the number of people physically present.

Power is partly material.

It depends on weapons, laws, money, organizations, and institutions.

But intimidation also depends on belief.

The Klan wanted the people of Robeson County to believe resistance would be dangerous and futile.

The scene at Hayes Pond demonstrated the opposite.

Once a symbol of fear becomes an object of ridicule, it is difficult to restore the same authority immediately.

That is why the captured banner mattered so much.

It did not destroy the Klan nationally.

It destroyed the message of that particular rally.