The city of Columbus may have packed up the state flag, but Lowndes County supervisors are not likely to follow suit.
“I haven’t given any thought to do that, but I don’t know what the other (supervisors) think, because it hasn’t come up,” Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders told The Dispatch this morning.
The Columbus City Council voted 6-0 Tuesday to take the state flag, which contains the Confederate battle flag, down on city property. The move comes after nine African American churchgoers were shot to death in South Carolina last month. Photographs of the confessed shooter have emerged that show him with the Confederate battle flag.
“I think anytime there’s something that comes up that’s controversial, some people will jump on it and grandstand,” Sanders said. “But not a soul (on the board) has mentioned it.”
District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said this morning that while he favors removing the flag, he is not inclined to bring it up for discussion before the board.
“Personally, I’d like to see the flag come down, but I don’t want to get into a contentious, drawn-out fight over it,” Brooks said. “If we could quietly agree among ourselves that this is something we want to do, that would be fine. But right now, we have an awful lot of things that we are all on the same page about. I’d hate to see something like this flag thing interrupt that momentum.”
Although four of the five supervisors face opponents in the Aug. 4 primary, neither Sanders nor Brooks said the fear of alienating voters by debating the flag issue is a factor.
“I don’t think it would be a factor in my race or for Jeff Smith,” Brooks said. “I don’t know what it would mean for Harry or John (Holliman), but I don’t think the reason we haven’t talked about it is because of the election. I think it’s just something that haven’t been focused on.”
Sanders said he would oppose an effort to remove the flag from county property if a proposal was made.
“I just don’t think it’s our call,” Sanders said. “It’s not a county flag. It’s a state flag. It’s the (state) Legislature’s call or the governor’s call. It’s not ours.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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