Washington, DC – The Fayette County Board of Commissioners is meeting today, April 24, 2018, to consider adopting a proclamation naming April as “Confederate History Month” and April 26th as “Confederate Memorial Day.” Officials are undertaking this proposal just days after a large neo-Nazi rally was held in neighboring Cowetta County over the weekend in the City of Newnan.
Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued the following statement: “We are gravely concerned that officials in Fayette County, Georgia would undertake action that will undoubtedly prove racially divisive and polarizing. That officials would pursue this proclamation just days after a neo-Nazi rally was held in neighboring Cowetta County is deeply troubling. By undertaking action to declare the month of April Confederate History Month, Fayette County officials demonstrate a willingness to drag the county back into the Jim Crow era with a one-sided focus on history that glamorizes the Confederacy while ignoring its ties to slavery, death and terror. At a time when racial polarization and hate are on the rise, officials should be working to build community cohesion instead of taking action that is so indisputably racially charged.”
