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http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/georgia/2014/02/26/confederate-flag-license-plate/5843445/
[h1]Gov. Deal: No problem with Confederate flag license plate[/h1]
ATLANTA -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said that he takes no issue with the state providing aspecialty license tag featuring the Confederate battle flag.
Last week, the Sons of Confederate Veterans unveiled the group's new plate design, which features the Confederate battle flag prominently in the background.
Some civil rights leaders criticized the plate, but some members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans members noted that the group had a tag with the flag on it for 15 years.
When asked by 11Alive's Paul Crawley if he thought the plate should be changed and if it might hurt Georgia's image, Deal said, "I don't think so, I mean it is one of many specialty plates that we have that are supportive of a variety of organizations and causes, so I don't think that it is something that we should be so concerned about. Hopefully those who take offense at it will look at the fact that it is a part of a cultural heritage of our state."
[h1]Confederate flag a symbol of heritage? #tellusatoday[/h1]
A new specialty license plate in Georgia featuring the Confederate battle flag renewed a debate about the controversial symbol. Comments from Twitter and Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
Good for Georgia! I miss our old flag. I never thought of it as a hate symbol until I was told it was.
— Stephen Shannon Tumlin
If something is so offensive to a large group, why would you support such a thing?
Many Americans feel that the Confederate flag is offensive and is a symbol of the age of slavery. I just cannot fathom why a state would OK the use of that symbol on its license plates.
— Patricia Resetar
Perhaps using a different version of the Confederate flag, or the Bonnie Blue flag, would work as a compromise.
— @ggranello
What heritage are Southerners preserving? You mean the one where an entire economy was born and built on the backs of slaves? Or do you mean the one where you all are sitting on the porch, having that nice glass of ice cold lemonade, listening to the songs coming from the slaves in the fields, with a crack or two of the whip? The real tragedy is the "heritage" of the hundreds of thousands of citizen soldiers who died to protect that way of life.
Flying that flag is some sort of revisionist history, where there is zero accountability for the institution of slavery.
— Michael Anthony Shea
The Confederate battle flag is part of our history and ended up making us a strong country.
— @jstusport
Confederate flags on Georgia license plates insult Americans who fought to keep this country free. Old glory is the only flag.
— @Bradspeak88
What's the big deal? It's a historical symbol. If you don't want one on your car, you don't have to get one.
— Jack McKnight
[h1]Gov. Deal: No problem with Confederate flag license plate[/h1]
ATLANTA -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said that he takes no issue with the state providing aspecialty license tag featuring the Confederate battle flag.
Last week, the Sons of Confederate Veterans unveiled the group's new plate design, which features the Confederate battle flag prominently in the background.
Some civil rights leaders criticized the plate, but some members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans members noted that the group had a tag with the flag on it for 15 years.
When asked by 11Alive's Paul Crawley if he thought the plate should be changed and if it might hurt Georgia's image, Deal said, "I don't think so, I mean it is one of many specialty plates that we have that are supportive of a variety of organizations and causes, so I don't think that it is something that we should be so concerned about. Hopefully those who take offense at it will look at the fact that it is a part of a cultural heritage of our state."
[h1]Confederate flag a symbol of heritage? #tellusatoday[/h1]
A new specialty license plate in Georgia featuring the Confederate battle flag renewed a debate about the controversial symbol. Comments from Twitter and Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:
Good for Georgia! I miss our old flag. I never thought of it as a hate symbol until I was told it was.
— Stephen Shannon Tumlin
If something is so offensive to a large group, why would you support such a thing?
Many Americans feel that the Confederate flag is offensive and is a symbol of the age of slavery. I just cannot fathom why a state would OK the use of that symbol on its license plates.
— Patricia Resetar
Perhaps using a different version of the Confederate flag, or the Bonnie Blue flag, would work as a compromise.
— @ggranello
What heritage are Southerners preserving? You mean the one where an entire economy was born and built on the backs of slaves? Or do you mean the one where you all are sitting on the porch, having that nice glass of ice cold lemonade, listening to the songs coming from the slaves in the fields, with a crack or two of the whip? The real tragedy is the "heritage" of the hundreds of thousands of citizen soldiers who died to protect that way of life.
Flying that flag is some sort of revisionist history, where there is zero accountability for the institution of slavery.
— Michael Anthony Shea
The Confederate battle flag is part of our history and ended up making us a strong country.
— @jstusport
Confederate flags on Georgia license plates insult Americans who fought to keep this country free. Old glory is the only flag.
— @Bradspeak88
What's the big deal? It's a historical symbol. If you don't want one on your car, you don't have to get one.
— Jack McKnight
Slave Descendant Joins Confederate Heritage Group
By Orlando Montoya
Updated: 21 hours ago
SAVANNAH, Ga. —
Georgia Benton, center, became Georgia's first African-American member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. (photo Elizabeth Piechocinski)
Georgians now can pay extra to have the Confederate flag as their license plate design.
African-American groups condemned the specialty tag when it was announced earlier this month calling it a symbol of racism.
But one member of a Southern heritage group has a unique perspective on the flag issue.
Recently I spent time with Georgia's recently inducted first black member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
As a child, Georgia Benton grew up in a segregated Savannah.
And every year, her grandmother took her to see her history.
In trips to a cemetery in South Carolina, she learned about her great-grandfather, George W. Washington, a slave in the Confederate Army.
"She would take us to the grave site," Benton says. "And on that monument, it said that he served in the War Between the States as body servant of Lt. Alex McQueen."
McQueen owned Washington.
And when the soldier died in the war's last days, the slave carried his master's body back to Sumter.
Blacks also served the South as cooks, laborers and soldiers.
Whites forced them in many cases.
And their numbers were relatively small.
But they're still powerful symbols.
Benton says, she proved her descent from Washington with family and Census records and the monument itself, erected by a white family.
"It's difficult for African-Americans to prove their lineage directly into the Civil War," Benton says.
I met Benton in Savannah's Civil War era cemetery, Laurel Grove.
It's divided into a white north section and a black south section.
Both areas are leafy and well-kept but never far from the roar of a nearby Interstate.
Benton wanted me to see the black section first.
That's where a Confederate emblem marks the final resting place of one of three black Confederates buried here.
"This is Alexander Harris," Benton says. "This is on the south side. And he was a black Confederate. That's where I wanted to start. Now I want to show you something on the north side."
Benton describes the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a history group, a philanthropic society to honor the dead.
She says she decided to join it for a simple reason -- because she can.
But spending a bit more time with her, walking amid the rows and rows of about six-hundred white Confederate grave sites, it's clear that this elegantly dressed and graceful Southerner also has points to make to both whites and blacks.
"The flag itself is not the problem," Benton says. "It's the ignorant individuals who carry it for the wrong reason. This flag is to commemorate and honor men who fought in the War Between the States. It is not to be used for negative connotations such as racism and discrimination."
Benton says that UDC members have welcomed her and that she's not received any negative push-back from the black community.
As for some who view Confederate heritage groups with suspicion, Benton says, they don't know the UDC.
"I am not blind-sighted, okay?" Benton says. "I am over 60 years old. I came up during the Civil Rights Era. And you must realize we can't overlook racism. But we must stand together, those of us who have common sense and know better, stand together and say, 'Hey, let's get rid of this.'"
Like she's done before, Benton says, she'll be in Laurel Grove on Confederate Memorial Day in April to help the Sons of Confederate Veterans decorate graves with Confederate flags.
She says her son is applying for membership in the Sons.
That's the group that gets ten dollars from every Confederate flag design license plate sold by the state of Georgia.
By Orlando Montoya
Updated: 21 hours ago
SAVANNAH, Ga. —
Georgia Benton, center, became Georgia's first African-American member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. (photo Elizabeth Piechocinski)
Georgians now can pay extra to have the Confederate flag as their license plate design.
African-American groups condemned the specialty tag when it was announced earlier this month calling it a symbol of racism.
But one member of a Southern heritage group has a unique perspective on the flag issue.
Recently I spent time with Georgia's recently inducted first black member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
As a child, Georgia Benton grew up in a segregated Savannah.
And every year, her grandmother took her to see her history.
In trips to a cemetery in South Carolina, she learned about her great-grandfather, George W. Washington, a slave in the Confederate Army.
"She would take us to the grave site," Benton says. "And on that monument, it said that he served in the War Between the States as body servant of Lt. Alex McQueen."
McQueen owned Washington.
And when the soldier died in the war's last days, the slave carried his master's body back to Sumter.
Blacks also served the South as cooks, laborers and soldiers.
Whites forced them in many cases.
And their numbers were relatively small.
But they're still powerful symbols.
Benton says, she proved her descent from Washington with family and Census records and the monument itself, erected by a white family.
"It's difficult for African-Americans to prove their lineage directly into the Civil War," Benton says.
I met Benton in Savannah's Civil War era cemetery, Laurel Grove.
It's divided into a white north section and a black south section.
Both areas are leafy and well-kept but never far from the roar of a nearby Interstate.
Benton wanted me to see the black section first.
That's where a Confederate emblem marks the final resting place of one of three black Confederates buried here.
"This is Alexander Harris," Benton says. "This is on the south side. And he was a black Confederate. That's where I wanted to start. Now I want to show you something on the north side."
Benton describes the United Daughters of the Confederacy as a history group, a philanthropic society to honor the dead.
She says she decided to join it for a simple reason -- because she can.
But spending a bit more time with her, walking amid the rows and rows of about six-hundred white Confederate grave sites, it's clear that this elegantly dressed and graceful Southerner also has points to make to both whites and blacks.
"The flag itself is not the problem," Benton says. "It's the ignorant individuals who carry it for the wrong reason. This flag is to commemorate and honor men who fought in the War Between the States. It is not to be used for negative connotations such as racism and discrimination."
Benton says that UDC members have welcomed her and that she's not received any negative push-back from the black community.
As for some who view Confederate heritage groups with suspicion, Benton says, they don't know the UDC.
"I am not blind-sighted, okay?" Benton says. "I am over 60 years old. I came up during the Civil Rights Era. And you must realize we can't overlook racism. But we must stand together, those of us who have common sense and know better, stand together and say, 'Hey, let's get rid of this.'"
Like she's done before, Benton says, she'll be in Laurel Grove on Confederate Memorial Day in April to help the Sons of Confederate Veterans decorate graves with Confederate flags.
She says her son is applying for membership in the Sons.
That's the group that gets ten dollars from every Confederate flag design license plate sold by the state of Georgia.
