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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorgia Town's Meeting on Confederate Pride Quickly Devolves Into Racist Spectacle
Georgia Town's Meeting on Confederate Pride Quickly Devolves Into Racist Spectacle
Two white councilmen tried to silence a Black member offended by one's use of the n-word.
By Liz Posner / AlterNet
April 5, 2018, 5:43 AM GMT
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/georgia-towns-meeting-confederate-pride-quickly-devolves-racist-spectacle
Local council members of Griffin, Georgia, a suburb outside Atlanta, held a meeting last week to declare April Confederate History Month and April 26 as Confederate Memorial Day for the city. But the in-favor vote by the majority-white council was not nearly the most offensive moment of the meeting, as the Washington Post reports.
During a public comments portion of the meeting, a white former council member named Larry Johnson reminisced about the towns racial history, using the n-word three times.
There were white folks, and there were black folks when I was growing up, Johnson said, addressing Rodney McCord, a Black member of the council. There was white trashmy familyand there was n-town. I lived next to ntown.
You lived next to what town? McCord asked Johnson in disbelief.
Johnson replied: Ntown, son. Im telling you son, now that changed. Im no longer white trash
Hold on a second, McCord interrupted.
Now, if thats offensive, I apologize for being offensive, Johnson said to McCord. Rodney, I dont use that word anymore."
You just used it right then, McCord replied.
The white chairman of the board then tried to cut McCord off, insisting he let Johnson speak. Mr. McCord, please let him get to the point so we can move on, Douglas Hollberg said.
After McCord pointed out the bitter irony of Johnson using racist language at a meeting intended to celebrate white supremacy, Johnson responded: My skin is white, my neck is red, and I was born in Southern bed. Nothing wrong with that. I hope that doesnt offend anybody.
Before he left the podium, Johnson invoked a line frequently used by pro-Confederate apologiststhat the Civil War wasnt fought over slavery but states rights.
Georgia is one of several Southern states currently debating what role it should play in memorializing the Civil War. While some cities are fighting the state to remove Confederate war monuments that are highly offensive to local African American communities, other jurisdictions have embraced new tokens of Confederate pride, like Griffin's newly-declared Confederate History Month.
H/T Washington Post
dameatball
(7,400 posts)marble falls
(57,405 posts)ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)And I was hoping McCord was going to tell him that.
marble falls
(57,405 posts)dameatball
(7,400 posts)Lunabell
(6,132 posts)Just, wow. Makes me want to cry.
marble falls
(57,405 posts)TheSmarterDog
(794 posts)that there are still white people so stupid that believe it's OK to use that word freely in the 2st century and not be called out for it.
Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)You would think that the council would be fairly split
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin,_Georgia
marble falls
(57,405 posts)Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)The council is 4-3 white. Looks like they have 3 white districts and 3 black while the chairman was elected city wide.
http://www.cityofgriffin.com
marble falls
(57,405 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)That should change after this situation. The whites on that council said "fuck you" to half of the town's citizens.