(CNN) Griffin, Georgia, a small city about 38 miles south of Atlanta, is proud of its Southern heritage.

Every year since at least 2010, the city has passed a proclamation designating April as Confederate History Month, city commissioner Douglas Hollberg told CNN. It's not an unusual occurrence in the South, where Confederate Memorial Day is still officially and unofficially observed in a handful of places.

But when the issue came up again at a recent Griffin city meeting, things did not go well.

A former city commissioner, speaking out as a resident in favor of the proclamation, used a racial slur three times -- offending an African-American member of the commission who opposed the measure.

And now a video of the meeting , including the exchange between the two men, has blown up online -- a reminder of the way racism continues to be on display in the South at a time when many places are removing Confederate memorials from public view.

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