Rebel Flag Angers Blacks In Georgia County

EASTMAN, GE - African-Americans told Dalton County, Ga., officials the Confederate flag was a symbol of repression, not the region's heritage.

About 60 people attended this week's county commission meeting to protest their decision to allow the Confederate flag to fly outside the courthouse year round.

Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia chapter of the NAACP, said the civil-rights organization was prepared to go to court to reverse the decision the commission made last month.

"You can be legally right sometimes, but morally wrong," DuBose said. "I shouldn't be in Dodge County because of this issue."

The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph said the commissioners cited equally strong public pressure to display the stars-and-bars every day. The previous policy raised the flag only on Confederate Heritage Day.

DuBose and other NAACP leaders said they did not object to showing the Civil War flag on Heritage Day or hanging it from private homes despite its connection to slavery.

In the end, the Telegraph said, the commission declined to vote on a motion to reverse last month's decision, saying the issue had already been debated at length.