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Two Georgia Cities Squabble Over Confederate Flag

Two different cities in Georgia are dealing with public relations matters because of the Confederate flag.

This article has been corrected to reflect that the city partnered with the American Legion for the parade and not the Sons of Confederate Veterans. 

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Two different cities in Georgia are dealing with public relations matters because of the Confederate flag.

The City of Alpharetta in North Fulton County voted earlier this week to halt its sponsorship of the city’s 70+ year Old Soldiers Day parade tradition as the city faces a lawsuit over the display of the Confederate flag. The decision was unanimous by Council.

The Associated Press reported that Mayor Jim Gilvin stated the city needed to get out of the parade business. In 2019, the city spent $20,000 sponsoring the parade alongside the American Legion, a local veterans support group that has assisted in organizing the parade for years. The Sons of the Confederate Veterans group says the move by the city is one that is motivated by a desire to be politically correct and that the group cannot afford to put on the parade without the city funding.

But the group also sued the City of Alpharetta the year prior after the city barred SCV from carrying Confederate flags in the same parade. That lawsuit is still ongoing.

Similarly, the City of Columbus in Muscogee County is being sued after the city removed rebel flags from flag poles in Linwood Cemetery which is the resting place for more than 500 Confederate soldiers.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that the Sons of Confederate Veterans claim the city and its leaders violated the civil rights of the SCV organization under the “monuments act” when the Confederate battle flags were removed.

Confederate flags had been banned from city property by former Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, who is now running for U.S. Senate, but current mayor Skip Henderson said the Confederacy’s first national flag could fly in its place due to its resemblance to the state flag, but the SCV did not find the proposition suitable.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

According to the lawsuit, Columbus city leaders violated the law and the group’s right to free speech under the First and 14th amendments, and breached a 1994 contract that allowed the group to fly the flags. Henderson and city council members rescinded that contract after removing the flags. The city argued that the flags were privately owned and not public monuments, so the monument act doesn’t apply.

Columbus has 60 days to respond to the lawsuit. The SCV’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Kara

    December 12, 2019 at 9:17 am

    Hate and racism have no place in city sponsored events. If the CSV wants to put on their own parade and fly their hate filled symbols, then they can pay for it themselves. I do not want my Alpharetta tax dollars spent on promoting symbols of slavery.

    Reply

    • Raleigh

      December 12, 2019 at 11:17 am

      First it is SCV for Sons of Confederate Veterans and not CSV. I would agree with parade funding if it is applied equally. In other words I do not want my tax dollars to fun ANY parade period. There is much more important and necessary things to spend tax dollars on that any parade. Last, since you are so sensitive to hate and racist symbols I’m sure you would agree the current state flag has to go. It is modeled after the stars and bars flag that flew of the capital of the confederacy in Richmond Va. That flag and the Battle flag was only in existence for around 4 years. But since you seem to want to eliminate those “your words’ racist symbols I’m sure you want to really eliminate one that flew for 70 plus years don’t you? It is called the Stars and Strips

      Reply

    • Edith

      December 12, 2019 at 1:07 pm

      You must be one of those “new” people that want to come in and change the way the small towns run things why didn’t you stay where you were if you wanted a big city

      Reply

      • Al

        December 17, 2019 at 7:34 am

        Doesnt matter if their family moved here 10 years ago or 100 years ago. They have the same right as anyone else to voice their opinion on the issues. What kind of jim crow nonsense is that? You can only have an opinion if your family lived here 200 years ago? This is why GA is so far behind the country in education. Because god forbid those small towns ever grow and evolve.

        Reply

  2. Nelda Smith

    December 12, 2019 at 10:09 am

    ONLY THE MOST THOSE WHO HAVE NO IDEA OF THEIR ANCESTRY IN THE SOUTH OR ARE NOT NATIVE TO THE SOUTH MAKE THE FLAG OR STATUES AN ISSUE. ANCESTRAL FAMILIES OF THE SOUTH WHO KNOW THEIR ANCESTRY KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL RELATED – CHEROKEE, WHITE AND BLACK. IN THE SOUTHERN FAMILIES, WE’VE ALWAYS KNOWN WE WERE ALL COUSINS – RELATED BY BLOOD. THE DEMONRATS HAVE TWISTED OUR HISTORY TO CAUSE DIVISION AND ONLY THE IGNORANT HAVE FALLEN FOR IT. I LOVE ALL MY COUSINS – RED, WHITE AND BLACK…AND, I LOVE MY HERITAGE AND ANCESTRY.

    Reply

    • Al

      December 17, 2019 at 7:30 am

      So you are admitting you are all dumb inbred hicks. Fantastic.

      Reply

    • Willie E. Simpson Jr

      February 12, 2020 at 10:28 am

      that was really wonderful NELDA, that you write I am a black man and we are all related every race Creed and color are related in one way or another God has the final word and God will make the final change amen..

      Reply

  3. Carter

    December 12, 2019 at 3:51 pm

    It’s still a problem no matter how y’all put it!! Whites chased Blacks while flying that awful flag and you just want people to look over it the Flag should be banned

    Reply

    • Raleigh

      December 13, 2019 at 10:02 am

      They also used The Stars and Strips Do you want that banned too?

      Reply

  4. Alex Moccasin-Tardio

    December 17, 2019 at 6:49 pm

    This is offensieve. I should be able to read news about 70+ year Old Soldiers and CSV and Strips and “new” crow people and ANCESTRAL FAMILIES WHO KNOW ANCESTRY and especially conferret flags without having to see what? a conferret flags?!? You mustela putorius furo. It is deplorbul and salashus and another big words the CNN told me that I forgot this happens in 2019. Such hatard in Albamgerio. Wars and flags and statues of hillbillies with flamethrower as only you can imagine? Probably a busk of Mussolina planking electric banjos on top the courthouse but I can’t marry the light pole I sleep under? This is why I stay soggy in Seattle near a cardboard and only read this end up. Shame. Free wifi1

    Reply

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