Racial wounds reopened in Grady County
Published 7:01 pm Friday, July 10, 2015
CAIRO — Scabs of racial wounds were ripped off during Friday’s special called meeting of the Grady County Commission to discuss the Confederate flag’s place at the Veteran’s Square surrounding the Grady County Courthouse.
After an unruly two hours of emotional statements by commissioners and residents, the board voted 4-1 to keep the 10 inch by 15 inch Confederate stick flag on the corner of the Confederate Memorial. Commission Chair LaFaye Copeland was the lone voice of dissension, voting to remove the flag.
Hatred was evident and accusations of racism were thrown around the room at people who were trying to express their beliefs.
Copeland explained that after Tuesday’s commission meeting where she brought up taking down the Confederate flag, she discovered that only the monument, not the flag on the corner of it, was approved by the board of commissioners in 1998.
“There were no flags in 2001 when they had that dedication for the monument,” she said.
After the meeting on Tuesday, Copeland asked County Administrator Carlos Tobar to remove the flag on Wednesday. According to Tobar, Commissioner Rays Prince asked Tobar to put it back, and he did. According to T.D. David, the Sons of Confederate Veterans put the flag on the monument.
“After the Thomasville Times-Enterprise story (about her call to remove the flag) on Wednesday, I was inundated with phone calls,” said Copeland. “I know the flag means something to you and it’s a part of your history. In a way its a part of my history, too.
“I am here to represent what that flag has become. Right now, that flag has started to stand for hate, oppression. It brings tension to the people and I don’t want us to be divided.
“But I opened up a whole can of worms just trying to move that little flag. It’s a little flag, but it speaks big volumes. Keep the monument and remove the little flag.”
“My position is coming through historic facts,” said Grady County resident Walter Lewis. “You (Copeland) are coming at this whole issue with emotion. If people don’t do it your way, they’re going to be racists, they’re going to be bad people, they’re going to be everything you dislike if they don’t go your way. That’s the position white people have been put into in this country.”
“No, no,” said Copeland.
“That is the problem with this country. He is a racist,” said Rev. Jacqueline Smith, presiding elder of the Albany/Valdosta District of South Georgia Conference of AME Church, turning and pointing her finger at Lewis.
After several minutes, the crowd quieted a little.
“This little flag don’t mean a hill of beans,” said Commissioner Charles Norton, “Why can’t we just come together and unite?”
Prince then pointed out that there were 85 years of slavery under the U.S. flag before the Civil War.
At that point, Sonia Jones hollered from the back of the room, “Take all of them down. That’s why I don’t pledge to that flag.”
Jones pointed at the U.S. flag.
“I have no respect for either flag being flown,” she said.
Prince responded calmly, “Then you shouldn’t be in this country.”
Earlier, Jones also said, “Grady County is full of racism. All the racists I’ve come across are white people.”
Tony Ward of Beachton said, “Grady County is very progressive. I hate to see the county painted as racist or anti-black because of the Confederate flag.”
Emma Fortner, head of the NAACP in Grady County, quoted Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee after his surrender to Union Gen. U.S. Grant, “‘This flag should be done away with because we should all be under one flag,’ the American flag … one nation, indivisible, but this is dividing us. If we don’t create a new history, we will continue to live by our old history — and that’s a shame.”
Former Grady County Commissioner Benny Prince probably summed up the Confederate flag controversy best — “It’s like a wildfire, the more you fan it, the bigger it gets.”
Sheriff Harry Young said after the meeting that he hopes people can get over something that should have never been brought up.
“I just see no reason for it. I hope this small thing doesn’t tear the whole county down.”