Ex-Atlanta Mayor Andy Young: Confederate Flag Issue Not Of 'Substance'

ATLANTA, GA -- Former Atlanta Major Andy Young has recently been sharing his views on the Confederate monuments that dot the South. Young, a longtime public servant, ambassador and civil rights leader, has appeared in recent days on CNN and NBC's "Meet The Press."

Confederate symbols and imagery are being debated in the wake of the emblems being used during the deadly clashes in Charlottsville, Va. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

On CNN, Young said that the debate over Confederate monuments was taking time and energy away from much more important issues. "We should focus on substance and not symbols," he said.

Young said that it didn't do any good to debate white supremacists, saying that they suffered from illness. "They are white supremacy and white supremacy is their sickness," Young told "Meet the Press," echoing what his father told him. "You don't get mad, get smart. Never get angry with sick people because you'll catch their sickness."

Young also said that the type of people who join the Ku Klux Klan "almost the poorest of the poor."

"Most of the issues that we’re dealing with now are related to poverty. But we still want to put everything in a racial context. The problem with the – and the reason I feel uncomfortable condemning the Klan types is – they are almost the poorest of the poor."

Young also had words for President Donald Trump, saying basically that the former "The Apprentice" star was not running the country the right way. "The trap is that he’s still politicking and thinking nationally, as a nationalist ... But the problem we have is that we’re not living in a nationalist environment. And that’s also his problem, personally, that he’s -- his business is all global. His business is in a global economy and he’s trying to the run the country from a national economy."

Young's words came as Georgia's elder statesmen speak out to give texture and context to the Confederate issue. This week, former Gov. Roy Barnes said that a popular East Atlanta street should be renamed.

"Confederate Avenue in Atlanta running in front of the State Patrol in my mind should be changed," Barnes said. "It sends the wrong message that the police power of the state is located on a street associated with slavery and suppression."

Young said that Confederate monuments shouldn't be the issue today -- at least not the way most people view them. "I remind people what it costs us to take down the Confederate flag," he said. "It cost us an election and that election cost us $14.9 billion and 70,000 health care jobs that we would have had in Georgia if we had not gotten to foolin’ with that flag. It costs us the Perimeter."

The monuments have been controversial for years, but only recently has the public turned on them to the point that they are being torn down in some cases. An Atlanta lawmaker has called for the Stone Mountain monument to be removed, causing an outcry among historians and Confederacy purists. Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams said, "while the current managers have worked hard to place Stone Mountain into historical context with an audio tour that reminds visitors of the scourge of slavery, the visible relief is a blight on Georgia and should be removed."

Remove Confederate Carving On Stone Mountain: Atlanta Lawmaker

Mayor Kasim Reed said that he will convene a group of advisers to review the city's many Confederate street names and markers, saying, "We want to ensure that we approach this endeavor in a thoughtful matter."

Image via Rick Diamond / Staff / Getty Images Entertainment