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Only about 30 people attended the 1992 Georgia State Capitol march – a handful of student activists but mostly reporters and some agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, taking photos of protesters burning a state flag .
Stacey Abrams, a student at Spelman College, was at the center of a photo from the Journal Journal-Constitution in Atlanta that, 26 years later, found herself trapped in a race that could make her the first black governor of the country – and who do not excuse. his role in the demonstration.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Abrams campaign said it was part of a move to remove the Confederate emblem from the flag of Georgia.
"During Stacey Abrams' middle school years, Georgia was at a crossroads and was trying to overcome racial divisions, including the symbols of confederation, the most acute of which was the inclusion of the emblem of confederation in the flag of the state of Georgia, "said his campaign. in a statement about the photo, which resurfaced on Monday. "Stacey participated in a peaceful protest authorized against the Confederate emblem on the flag. This conversation swept over Georgia as many organizations, prominent leaders and students embarked on a successful effort to change the flag. "
Goldie Taylor, editor of the Daily Beast who said he co-directed the march, tweeted Tuesday that Abrams had made not burn the flag, an act attributed to Taylor two other students.
The campaign of Abrams' opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, did not respond to calls for comment. He tried to describe Abrams as "too extreme for Georgia". In commercials and speeches since Mr Abrams' victory at the Democratic primaries in May, Kemp has described him as insensitive liberal.
[House candidates campaign on their agendas, but voters vote on Trump]
When Abrams was in college, more than half of the state flag of Georgia was made up of the Confederate emblem, which gave him the seal of a small rectangle on the left . The Confederate emblem was added in 1956 "as a criticism of the growing civil rights movement," reported the Associated Press. The previous flags bore the seal of state and blue and white bars.
The Democratic candidate for Georgia, Governor Stacey Abrams, waved her hand at a campaign event in Atlanta in May. (John Bazemore / Associated Press)
Political pressure to change the state's flag began to rise as the state sought to host the 1996 Olympic Games and growing concern that a flagrant symbol of Confederation undermined the reputation of the state. State, revealed the AP.
In 2001, the state placed the Confederate emblem in a much less visible position on the flag, as part of a smaller display of previous state flags under the title "The History of Georgia". The last iteration of the state flag of Georgia, 2003, erases the "Banner Stainless."
Abrams did not hide his disdain for the Confederate images and symbols that characterize it, and his image during the event fits into a growing debate over the role of these symbols in places of public veneration.
Georgia has one of the largest commemorations, a gigantic bas-relief carved on the side of Stone Mountain featuring Confederate Chiefs: Gens. Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee and President Jefferson Davis.
In 2017, shortly after the violence in Charlottesville during a white nationalist march, Abrams said the Stone Mountain monument should be removed.
"Composed by the founders of the 2nd KKK, the monument had no other purpose than to celebrate racism, terrorism and division when it was carved in 1915," she said. written on Twitter. "We must never celebrate those who have defended slavery and tried to destroy the Union. Confederate monuments belong to museums where we can study and reflect on this terrible story, not to places of honor of our state. "
During the election campaign, Kemp, secretary of state of Georgia, said that he would protect the monument "from the radical left".
The differences of opinion on the flag were reflected on social media, with some saying they would never vote for someone who had desecrated a flag, while others praised Abrams for his role in removing a symbol of racism.
Georgia Democratic Democrat Democrat Stacey Abrams has helped to embody the state flag at a university event. Do not burn our flag!https://t.co/a6fqGbCF73
– نالال oftoftgods #DemandVoterID ن (@gardenofthegods) October 23, 2018
"Good for her," wrote one person about Abrams. "I would have fired this thing too."
Similar arguments may resurface Tuesday night, when Kemp and Abrams will face each other in the first governorship debate two weeks before the elections.
Read more:
"You are animals that disgust me": the story of racist publications on Facebook from a school board nominee
White legislator warns black lawyer that she could "disappear" if Confederate statutes are threatened
In the Mississippi Senate race, an African-American Democrat faces a Republican using a Confederate symbol
The robotic call "We Negroes" is an attempt to "race the gun" in the Florida countryside, warns Gillum
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