Negotiators approve flag compromise (GA State Flag)

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 04/04/03 | Jim Galloway

[WhiskeyPapa]

Negotiators approve flag compromise

By JIM GALLOWAY

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Proposed new Georgia state flag.

Georgia's state flag would be changed immediately, with a public vote to follow, under a plan endorsed by a key House committee today.

The new flag would resemble the first national flag of the Confederacy -- three red and white bars, with a blue field in the top left corner. The state seal would be in the blue corner, and the words "In God We Trust" would be written to the right.

The bill adopted by the House Rules Committee calls for the Legislature to change the flag to the new design immediately. Then, in March 2004, a public referendum would be held to let voters decide whether they want to keep that flag.

Only if the new flag is rejected by voters would a second referendum be held, this time in July 2004, asking voters if they want to return to the Georgia flag dominated by the Confederate battle emblem, or the flag that flew before 1956. The current flag would not be on the ballot.

The Rules Committee proposal now heads to the full House for a vote next week, although the bill may be amended there and still requires Senate approval.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had proposed a statewide referendum on changing Georgia's flag, is endorsing the proposal.

"We believe this represents a compromise," said Rep. Glenn Richardson (R-Dallas), the governor's floor leader who sponsored Perdue's flag bill. "This will bring this to a conclusion."

The Legislature, led by former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, voted in 2001 to shrink the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag, which was added in 1956 as Georgia schools were being ordered to desegregate.

[HELLRAISER II]

The latter.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Why wouldn't they use the ACTUAL GA STATE flag used before that thing invented in 1956?

Using a deliberately Confederate "national" flag is stupid. It AIN'T the confederate flag, it's a STATE flag.

[Bar-Face]

As a son of the South, I think maybe this is a good compromise. For the past 50 or so years, we have allowed every hate group from the KKK to the American Nazi party use the Southern Cross, with no complaints. Therefor the the battle flag is now associated more with the KKK than with The Confederate States of America. Besides, most of the people complaining about the "Stars & Bars" don't have a clue as to what the Stars and Bars really are.

Now be nice guys, this is my first post.

[ladtx]

More power to you Hellraiser II, hope you get what you want.

[HELLRAISER II]

Like I said earlier this flag is alright, but the Battle Flag is my pick and quite frankly if the people here in Georgia don't like it. Well then they can vote against it or leave, it's really that simple. Thanks Gov. Perdue.

[ladtx]

You've got a good point. Too bad it has to come down to this though.

[Wyatt's Torch]

I appreciate the strength of your conviction. I have lived in Georgia my entire life and, frankly, couldn't care less what the flag looked like. I anly care about a single flag and that is the Stars and Stripes. I appreciate the fact that people are upset at politicians bowing down to the PC crowd but, in all honesty, the flag will not change the life of a single person (except those who actually make flags). I hope you get what you want because it is important to you but I simply don't care.

[HELLRAISER II]

Well, well a newbie, just kidding. You're entitled to your opinion, even though I don't agree. I do however see how you could view things that way. It is true that some of these hate groups did use the Battle Flag as a racist symbol, but I never have nor has anyone I associate with. To me it's simply a State flag of where I live and i'm proud of being Southern and i'm specially proud of the state from which I live.

[HELLRAISER II]

It is true I hope we get our old State flag back, but make no mistake about where my loyalties lie. I have no problem Pledging my allegience to the Greatest Country on the Earth. The United States of America.

[Constantine XIII]

he he he, that'll tweak the lefties worse than what they started with before this whole farce got started!

LOL

[sheltonmac]

*ping*

[lugsoul]

Well, that ain't the old state flag.

The nonsense of changing the flag for political reasons didn't start with King Roy. It started in 1956. And if you don't think that the legislature should, or can, change the state flag because some folks don't like what they think it stands for, then perhaps you can explain why the legislature should, or can, change the state flag expressly because of what they think it stands for - and to thumb their nose at those who disagree.

The '56 flag ain't about heritage. If you want heritage, it would seem that the old flag is far more about heritage than one adopted in a spate of anti-segregation legislation.

[Polybius]

Why wouldn't they use the ACTUAL GA STATE flag used before that thing invented in 1956? Using a deliberately Confederate "national" flag is stupid. It AIN'T the confederate flag, it's a STATE flag.

The Georgia State Flag used prior to 1956 was also based on the Stars and Bars.

The Stars and Bars was the political symbol of the Confederacy. When you think about it dispassionately, replacing a political symbol for a military symbol should have made the post 1956 flag less politically charged.

However, with public education being what it is nowadays, most people wouldn't be able to recognize the Stars and Bars any more than graduating high school seniors can now point out where Vietnam is on a map.

Georgia State Flag (c. 1920-1956)

[Tatze]

The problem is, as one other poster has mentioned, is that the heritage crowd did not object (or not loud enough) when the KKK rallied under the CBF. Sorry, but you lost your claim to it.

Asthetically speaking, I like the 56-01 flag, but I will not support it in the referendum. Practically, I far prefer the pre-56 flag over all other options. This new proposal is fine, but they need to move 'In God We Trust' to the bottom of the blue field below the seal. It doesnt look right where it is.

[HELLRAISER II]

Well since I wasn't alive prior to 56, the only one i'm interested in is the one I saw as a kid growing up. You're playing semantics with what I said, you obviously don't feel the way I do about the battle flag and that's cool but you will find that there are lot's of us who feel this way. Just for the record I grew up in a family who were not racist, when I got to the 6th & 7th grade I got bussed to a mostly black school where we whites we're abused because we were the minority. I know all about segregation & desegregation & racism and not once have I ever inflicted harm physically or mentally based on my politics or view on the Georgia state flag. To you it's nonsense, to me & 10's of thousands of other Georgians it's just the way it's going to be, just watch.

[HELLRAISER II]

I can see your point and maybe they did fall down on the job, but remember that I wasn't born until 1964 and went to school in Florida, hell I didn't even know what a klan member was until I saw Porky's. I did however know what the Confederate flag was and never saw it as a racist symbol, maybe in a sense we are now taking back our heritage from those racists of old as well as the Minority racists of present.

[lugsoul]

Great logic. My daughter is 2. To your way of thinking, the ugly blue flag is "heritage" for her, since it is the only one she's seen flying over the capitol. Seems to me that "heritage", almost by definition, extends back to before you were born.

You may not have taken any action against anyone based on your view of the state flag. Think about how you would feel, however, if you were alive in 1956, and black. And the state changed the flag to the battle flag amidst a torrent of speeches and legislation about resistance to segregation. Do you think your heart would swell with pride over that flag?

Anyway, since you are so confident of the outcome, how about a side bet? If the battle flag were going to be the eventual winner, do ya think Sonny would be running away from it as fast as he can? Anyway - this much is certain - if you want that flag, you must not want Sonny for another term. Because there is no way he will win another with that flag flying over the state house.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"This is a compromise, as someone states? ROTFL This is what is commonly called a surrender."

---

Not really. The people of Georgia will get to decide in a referendum---that's all anyone can ask for. If they don't like the new flag (which, personally, I think is pretty cool---it's got the old Stars and Bars and says In God We Trust), then they get to choose between the 1956-2001 flag (the one that prominently displays the Confederate Battle Flag) and some other old flag. So if Georgians want to bring back the 1956-2001 flag, they can do so by voting in two referenda.

[HELLRAISER II]

If your daughter grows up looking at the current state flag whether it's the current, old or new state flag for her whole life. Then yes I believe she will grow to be proud of it and the state from which she lives regardless of her race unless she is taught to hate it.

You also state that I might feel different if I was alive in 56, perhaps you are right. I have read some of the things that happened to blacks of that time and it truly was terrible perhaps you were even alive then and it shaped the way you feel.

But I can't understand what it's like to be black, nor can blacks know what it's like to be white. But I can tell you however that I learned all about racism at S.P. Livingston & Butler schools in Jacksonville, Fl and it wasn't Whites doing the abusing it was blacks. How about blacks standing in line waiting to take their turn to beat the $hit out of some kid while another one held them simply because they were white. How about being chased around campus by blacks with straight razors simply because you were white. You see I know all about racism to and it didn't have anything to do with Florida or the State flag.

[HELLRAISER II]

That's really all we the people of Georgia wanted, to give us the chance to decide not the Legislature. Lugsol seems to thing Sonny won't be back, I disagree I think that Sonny has won over a lot of voters simply for giving them the chance to vote on the issue and like you said whatever we the people decide is something I can live with.