TokenCracker
01-31-2001, 06:31 AM
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia's state senators voted on Tuesday to change the state flag by shrinking the size of a Confederate emblem which many regard as a symbol of deep-seated racism, heading off threats of an economic boycott of the state by civil rights groups.
The proposal to change the flag passed by a vote of 34-22 and followed approval last week by the House of Representatives. The change reduces the Confederate emblem, a Southern cross with white stars and blue bars on a red background, to one of five small flags at the bottom of a banner under the state seal.
The emblem was considered offensive to many blacks who saw it as a symbol of bigotry in the old slave-owning South. Some white southerners, on the other hand, viewed it as a symbol of pride in their heritage.
The vote was a victory for Georgia's Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who had lobbied legislators intensely on Monday.
In an impassioned plea before the vote, Barnes took aim at opponents who had argued that changing the flag would dishonor the state's heritage. He said the redesign was needed to send a message of inclusion to all Georgians.
"It is our job, our duty and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation," Barnes told the packed Senate in Atlanta.
The Confederate emblem harks back to the Civil War era, but it was added to Georgia's state flag in 1956 by white lawmakers who wanted to maintain segregation in defiance of the growing civil rights movement.
Pressure to change the flag mounted last year after civil rights groups successfully used boycotts to force South Carolina to remove a Confederate flag from its state capitol.
The new Georgia flag was a compromise between lawmakers who wanted the Confederate emblem removed from the state flag and those who wanted some vestige of it to remain.
THREAT OF BOYCOTTS
Much was riding on the vote's outcome. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officials had suggested they could pull the Final Four men's basketball tournament out of Atlanta next spring if the flag issue wasn't resolved.
And civil rights groups had threatened economic boycotts if the flag was not changed.
Before the vote, many senators said coming to a decision had been difficult.
State Sen. Joey Brush said though he was troubled by the racial divide over the flag, he opposed the redesign. "We don't need to be dividing up Georgia into good guys and bad guys," said Brush, who is white.
David Scott, a black senator, said changing the flag was a moral imperative. "There is a voice on high ... telling us to vote to change this flag not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it is the righteous thing to do," he said.
As the Senate debated on Tuesday, a few supporters and opponents of the redesigned flag held up signs expressing their views outside the capitol building.
"I just feel that incorporating the Confederate banner on a flag of a state that should represent all the people of the state is a wrong thing," said William K. Davis, an Atlanta resident who supported the change.
"Whether for right or wrong, the battle flag has been used by hate groups to perpetuate their own agendas. It's become symbolic of all that's wrong with the state and with America." But Billy Bearden, a resident of Bremen, about 50 miles west of Atlanta, circled the capitol steps holding a red battle flag with the Confederate emblem.
"I'm here to show my support for the current flag that incorporates the battle flag of the army of Northern Virginia," Bearden said. Bearden added that he opposes the compromise flag because it wasn't put to a vote of all Georgians.
"I agree that some people think there is a need and a time for a change," Bearden said. "But there is a method for change, and referendums and voter input and debate and open hearings are the way to go."
Token reaction:
damnit this sort of shit pisses me off. first south carolina (chris rock's home state) now georgia. naacp is so shitty, i know black people and deal with them very often and most who have commented aloud about it to me, because i was in the same office watching tv, have said its embarrassing that they make a fuss of this like it matters, and economic boycotts are bullshit. geogia would not suffer if the senators had said (what they should have said) "no dice." South Carolina didn't even feel the economic boycott, aint nobody going out of state to buy stuff! except for weed paraphernalia, they cant really sell it there. So, i am saying that N.A.A.C.P. members and supporters are the racists, a new flag wont fix their hate for the white man. senators dont need to encourage this shit, i'll bet you money that they will try to make another southern state bend over for them and i hope when that happens the senators tie all the racist naacp'ers to a truck bumper. and geogia and south carolina puts up the right flag, the one that means defeat but not by black racists.
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<IMG SRC="http://www.geocities.com/newbnd/sig1.gif" border=0>
See, I got this brown spot on my arm, you think its just a birthmark but its my real skin color, the rest of my skin is just a birthmark.
The proposal to change the flag passed by a vote of 34-22 and followed approval last week by the House of Representatives. The change reduces the Confederate emblem, a Southern cross with white stars and blue bars on a red background, to one of five small flags at the bottom of a banner under the state seal.
The emblem was considered offensive to many blacks who saw it as a symbol of bigotry in the old slave-owning South. Some white southerners, on the other hand, viewed it as a symbol of pride in their heritage.
The vote was a victory for Georgia's Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who had lobbied legislators intensely on Monday.
In an impassioned plea before the vote, Barnes took aim at opponents who had argued that changing the flag would dishonor the state's heritage. He said the redesign was needed to send a message of inclusion to all Georgians.
"It is our job, our duty and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation," Barnes told the packed Senate in Atlanta.
The Confederate emblem harks back to the Civil War era, but it was added to Georgia's state flag in 1956 by white lawmakers who wanted to maintain segregation in defiance of the growing civil rights movement.
Pressure to change the flag mounted last year after civil rights groups successfully used boycotts to force South Carolina to remove a Confederate flag from its state capitol.
The new Georgia flag was a compromise between lawmakers who wanted the Confederate emblem removed from the state flag and those who wanted some vestige of it to remain.
THREAT OF BOYCOTTS
Much was riding on the vote's outcome. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officials had suggested they could pull the Final Four men's basketball tournament out of Atlanta next spring if the flag issue wasn't resolved.
And civil rights groups had threatened economic boycotts if the flag was not changed.
Before the vote, many senators said coming to a decision had been difficult.
State Sen. Joey Brush said though he was troubled by the racial divide over the flag, he opposed the redesign. "We don't need to be dividing up Georgia into good guys and bad guys," said Brush, who is white.
David Scott, a black senator, said changing the flag was a moral imperative. "There is a voice on high ... telling us to vote to change this flag not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it is the righteous thing to do," he said.
As the Senate debated on Tuesday, a few supporters and opponents of the redesigned flag held up signs expressing their views outside the capitol building.
"I just feel that incorporating the Confederate banner on a flag of a state that should represent all the people of the state is a wrong thing," said William K. Davis, an Atlanta resident who supported the change.
"Whether for right or wrong, the battle flag has been used by hate groups to perpetuate their own agendas. It's become symbolic of all that's wrong with the state and with America." But Billy Bearden, a resident of Bremen, about 50 miles west of Atlanta, circled the capitol steps holding a red battle flag with the Confederate emblem.
"I'm here to show my support for the current flag that incorporates the battle flag of the army of Northern Virginia," Bearden said. Bearden added that he opposes the compromise flag because it wasn't put to a vote of all Georgians.
"I agree that some people think there is a need and a time for a change," Bearden said. "But there is a method for change, and referendums and voter input and debate and open hearings are the way to go."
Token reaction:
damnit this sort of shit pisses me off. first south carolina (chris rock's home state) now georgia. naacp is so shitty, i know black people and deal with them very often and most who have commented aloud about it to me, because i was in the same office watching tv, have said its embarrassing that they make a fuss of this like it matters, and economic boycotts are bullshit. geogia would not suffer if the senators had said (what they should have said) "no dice." South Carolina didn't even feel the economic boycott, aint nobody going out of state to buy stuff! except for weed paraphernalia, they cant really sell it there. So, i am saying that N.A.A.C.P. members and supporters are the racists, a new flag wont fix their hate for the white man. senators dont need to encourage this shit, i'll bet you money that they will try to make another southern state bend over for them and i hope when that happens the senators tie all the racist naacp'ers to a truck bumper. and geogia and south carolina puts up the right flag, the one that means defeat but not by black racists.
------------------
<IMG SRC="http://www.geocities.com/newbnd/sig1.gif" border=0>
See, I got this brown spot on my arm, you think its just a birthmark but its my real skin color, the rest of my skin is just a birthmark.