Confederate Flag In Kennesaw Continues To Be Vandalized: Report

KENNESAW, GA -- A Confederate flag hanging from a pole at a prominent intersection in Kennesaw has been torn down twice by vandals, according to news reports. The incident comes amid strong sentiments -- for and against -- swirling around Confederate symbols and imagery nationwide.

The area where the flag is located is called Commemorative Park, where veterans, including public safety officers who died on 9/11, are honored. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Workers reportedly took the flag down Thursday night so that it wouldn't be vandalized again. Commemorative Park is considered a state park and not under the jurisdiction of local governance, but a local official wants to change that.

City Councilwoman Yvette Daniel told local media that she is proposing a resolution to put the fate of the flag in the hands of Kennesaw, rather than the state of Georgia. "What we're trying to get is the privilege and the right to do it on our level as a municipality," Daniel told WAGA-TV.

Confederate Flag Taken Down In Kennesaw: Report

The site where the flag was centered is at the corner of Cherokee and Main streets, not far from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, where soldiers from the North and South squared off for three weeks in 1864.

The incidents of vandalism occurred after an online petition calling for the flag to come down began circulating Sunday, one day after deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Va. The petition, created by Reid Jones, has garnered more than 4,000 signatures as of midday Friday.

In the petition, Jones said that the flag is a dubious symbol to fly over a free land. "The Confederate flag, in present-day America, is commonly used as a symbol racism, slavery, white supremacy, and sectionalism of the southern region of the United States, as recently seen in Charlottesville, VA. It is often equated and used in companionship with the Swastika flag of Nazi Germany."

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Dickens, who is Kennesaw's first black council member, said that the flag issue is a complex one and that he can empathize with both sides.
“I understand on both sides," he said, according to the AJC. "I understand how people want to represent and show their heritage with the flag and everything, but I also see the other side where people see the flag as intimidation,” he said. “... it reminds some people of a time that America wasn’t as great as it is now.”
The Confederate backlash is growing across the state. In Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed said that after receiving a number of petitions, the city is looking into renaming streets honoring Confederates. "I will carefully consider these petitions, because symbols matter, and as those espousing hate-filled idealogies grow bolder, we must grow stronger in defense of our values."

Kennesaw's City Council is set to take up the flag issue at its meeting Monday night, WAGA reports.
"It's a step in the right direction, if you're going to have change, you have to start somewhere," Daniel was quoted as saying.

Remove Confederate Carving On Stone Mountain: Atlanta Lawmaker

And in Decatur, a Confederate monument on the Square is being targeted in a petition as well.

But the petition, started by local resident Eric Erzinger, has run into a similar wall like the one in Kennesaw as local politicians have come forward to say there's no legal way for them to remove the landmark, unless state law is changed.

"These responses are not acceptable. The monument can and must be removed," Erzinger said.
Image via Pixabay