The Confederate flag that flew in downtown Kennesaw was cut down overnight Tuesday, according to a city councilman.
Jimmy Dickens said this is the second time this week someone has cut down the flag, located at the corner of Main and Cherokee streets. The first instance was Monday night.
Some residents have recently begun an effort to remove the flag by signing an online petition. By Wednesday night, the petition had grown to more than 2,600 signatures from metro Atlanta and beyond.
The flag is part of Commemorative Park, which has monuments and plaques honoring veterans from various conflicts, including a 9/11 memorial.
City spokeswoman Pam Davis said Georgia law strictly limits alterations to the park, which is outside the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History.
A police investigation into the flags’ removal has likely not been opened because there is no video coverage at the site, Davis said.
The flag exists to commemorate William A. Fuller, the Confederate train conductor whose reclaiming of a locomotive during one of the Civil War’s largest train chases led to the deaths of eight Union raiders, according to the petition to remove it.
“This man is not someone worth idolization or commemoration,” the petition says. “... The removal of the Confederate flag from the public flag pole in downtown Kennesaw would serve as a message to all that our community strives for equality and unity, rather than disparity and division.”
Similar efforts to remove Confederate flags and symbols have cropped up across metro Atlanta, including a growing petition to remove a Confederate monument from Decatur Square. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has also said he will consider renaming streets like Confederate Avenue in Grant Park.
These renewed efforts come in the wake of a rally by white supremacists that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, nearly a week ago.
Dickens, who became Kennesaw's first black council member in 2015, said Tuesday that he'd like the flag put in a museum.
About the Author
