The Flag Flap Revisited

Even before the last absentee ballot has been counted at the Secretary of State's office, the liberal media in cahoots with the bruised liberal wing of what is left of the Georgia Democratic Party is twisting the Governor-Elect's issues around. The latest one is the flag flap.

Sonny Perdue did use the flag as an issue, but not the cornerstone of his campaign. In every report, that issue is listed first. Perdue did call for a referendum, but frankly, he may have gone a bit too far on that. The state flag has been changed 6 times in Georgia history and every time has been through the legislature.

The one exception to that is the first flag that was pre-1879, which has the most historical significance but the history is not clear on the exact date and method it was adopted. This flag is, however, the first official state flag of the 13 original states of the United States of America. For this reason, it is the flag that should be used as the Georgia flag.

The flag issue for the Perdue campaign was one of many issues that he used to highlight the Governor's strong arm tactics. Rev. Joseph Lowery said that Sonny Perdue should not have used the statement "free at last" from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his acceptance speech and went on to say that there was a Confederate flag behind Perdue at the acceptance speech. This proved not to be true. There was no Confederate flag behind Sonny Perdue.

Here are the valid issues in the discussion of the flag. The Governor maintained as he approached the 2001 Legislative Session that he was not going to bring up the flag issue. In an interview that never aired, Rev. Eugene Green, a member of a grassroots group of people wanting to change that flag and a Black pastor in Gainesville, said that "they did not want to force the change in the flag because then White folks would feel about the new flag they way Black folks feel about the old one."

The Governor had to go to the legislature because the law does not provide for a referendum and lawyers for the State today feel that the law does not support a referendum. He did not have to do it in secret and this along with the many other secret plans that were revealed by surprise on the electorate and the legislature is what unseated Roy Barnes, not the flag.

The Confederate Battle Flag, St. Andrew's Cross, is not in itself a divisive symbol based on the history of the Civil War. Many men died honorably defending their land. As in many wars, those that die are not a part of the politics of the issue, they are defending against invasion. The problem with the Confederate Battle emblem being used on the Georgia state flag is what it came to represent.

Fine White folks have to take responsibility for what that symbol became. We turned our heads when ignorant, bigoted people wrapped themselves in that flag and used it for intimidation of Black people. In the time of Jim Crow and the period between Reconstruction and Civil Rights legislation, we ignored what people were doing with that flag.

In that time Democrats controlled the landscape in Georgia and they passed laws and set up barriers. Those people let the symbol of "The Lost Cause" be used by backward people that wanted to instill fear and the consequence of that is the symbol has been tainted.

Perdue did not make the flag an issue, Governor Barnes and his style of leadership did. Many of the votes that the Governor-Elect got were anti-Barnes votes and he must work quickly to secure those voters as Perdue voters and really win them over.

As far as using the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he is a national icon and a hero for all Americans, not just Black Americans. The Republicans have been on the political plantation for 130 years. They know what it is like to be a second class citizen in the political process. Let's see how they use their power before we judge them.

Martha Zoller is the host of WDUN Newstalk 550's The Martha Zoller Show heard daily from 9-11:35 am. She is a regular panelist on Fox5 Atlanta's The Georgia Gang and has been seen on CNN, FoxNews Channel and MSNBC. You can contact her at [email protected]