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ATLANTA – At a protest on the Georgia Capitol marches in 1992, Stacey Abrams, today a Democratic nominee for the governorship, has associated with the flag fire of the ############################################################################### 39, which at the time included the design of the Confederate battle flag. a persistent symbol of white supremacy.
Ms. Abrams' role in the protest, which took place towards the end of her first year at Spelman College in Atlanta, began appearing on social media on the eve of her first debate on Tuesday with her Republican opponent, the secretary Brian Kemp. Mr. Kemp and his allies have tried to describe it as "too extreme for Georgia".
If elected, Mrs. Abrams, 44, would become the first black female governor of the country. In August 2017, after the violent white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, Abrams injected the issue of Confederate memorials into the governor's race by demanding the removal of the Confederate giant engraved on Stone Mountain, a granite flush with the Is from Atlanta. noting, rightly, its links with the white supremacy and the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mr Kemp, who is white, said that Georgians should not "try to rewrite" the past, and said that he would protect the monument from "the radical left".
The Abrams campaign, in a statement on Monday, said her actions in 1992 were part of a "peaceful demonstration authorized against the Confederate emblem of the flag" and a move that eventually managed to change the flag.
"During Stacey Abrams' college 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 the Confederation in the flag of the state of Georgia, "reads the statement. . "This conversation has swept over Georgia as many organizations, prominent leaders and students have engaged in a finally successful effort to change the flag."
He added, "The time Abrams spent in the civil service as Deputy Attorney General and as the state's legislative leader was focused on bringing people together to solve the problems."
Ryan Mahoney, spokesman for the Kemp campaign, could not be reached for comment on Monday.
In the 1990s, few issues in Georgia were more politically explosive than the Confederate-themed flag design. After many debates and protests, the the design was modified in 2001 to minimize the size of the battle flag. The battle flag was completely removed from the design with a second change in 2003.
Before the changes, African-Americans and other Georgians vehemently opposed it, pointing out that the design element of combat flags had been introduced by a state legislature in 1956 in order to display contempt pressure from the federal government to incorporate School Board Decision.
However, city officials in Atlanta eventually refused to defend the municipal buildings and many members of the Atlanta business community felt it was embarrassing.
The change of flag would have cost the last democratic governor of Georgia, Roy Barnes, his candidacy for re-election in 2002, when he was criticized by a group of "flagrants" who claimed that the symbol did not concern racism, but value and sacrifice of the troops of the southern civil war.
The June 14, 1992 demonstration and Ms. Abrams' role in it are described in two local newspapers at the time. A photo of Mrs. Abrams and two other African-American students burning the flag appeared on the front of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution local newspaper the following day.
In the second article, about two weeks later, Ms. Abrams spoke of the violent reaction, saying that a woman had called to tell her that the flag was a symbol of the South's legacy and that blacks who did not like the flag could hell. "
In this article, Ms. Abrams explained how she had kept her parents informed of her nascent activism in Atlanta, active in the struggle for civil rights in Mississippi.
Ms. Abrams had recently participated in a peaceful protest following the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers accused of using excessive force during the beating of a black motorist, Rodney. King. But other demonstrators had become violent.
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