Kennesaw City Council Passes Resolution to Decide Fate Of Confederate Flag

KENNESAW, GA -- Amid protests outside, the Kennesaw City Council passed a resolution Monday night to decide the fate of the Confederate flag, which as a state war memorial was out of their jurisdiction. The vote means that Georgia's General Assembly will weigh in on the issue, which has divided many in the community.

The controversial flag once flew proudly at Commemorative Park on the corner of Cherokee and Main streets, not far from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. But that was before the deadly clashes at Charlottesville, Va., where such symbols and imagery took on another -- and in the eyes of many, more sinister -- meaning. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Now, roused by an online petition from resident Reid Jones, many in the city want the flag removed from public grounds. "That's not what our community is about here in Kennesaw," Jones said, according to WXIA-TV. "That's not what we represent."

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But others said that whatever it represents is still a part of history, thus should not be erased.

"It's a part of our history, for the good or bad," Alicia Daniell, who is in favor of keeping the flag, told the TV station. "I know this has been going on for decades."

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The flag has been vandalized twice since the petition began. Jones maintains that the Confederate 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."

Controversial for years, Confederate emblems and markers have come under increased scrutiny in recent days.

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."

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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 Pixabay