[floridaleft] [FL racism] Take Confederate flag out of Lake City logo (fwd)

[Michael Hoover <hoov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

forwarded by Michael Hoover

> [Moderator's Note: Lake City was the site of the Battle of Olustee, one of
> the only major Civil War battles fought in the state.]
>
> Published Wednesday, December 20, 2000, in the Miami Herald
>
> NAACP: Take Confederate flag out of city's logo
>
> LAKE CITY, Fla. -- (AP) -- A Confederate flag that's part of the
> city logo is insensitive to blacks and should be removed, an NAACP
> spokesman told the city council.
>
> ``To many African Americans, the Confederate flag is a symbol of
> hatred, bigotry, being separate and unequal and anti-Semitism,''
> said Glenel Bowden, Columbia County branch president of the National
> Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
>
> The flag rests in the left corner of the logo of this small north
> Florida city near the junction of Interstates 10 and 75. The logo,
> designed and adopted as part of a contest in 1981, is used on the
> city's letterhead, business cards and some city vehicles.
>
> The words ``The Gateway to Florida'' and ``Lake City'' were
> incorporated in the logo, as were drawings of an alligator, two
> soldiers, and the Confederate flag.
>
> During Monday night's council meeting, Mayor W.R. Kirkland said it
> wasn't the first time the complaint was made, and he recommended the
> council appoint a committee to recommend an action.
>
> Councilwoman Bettye Lane said the matter had already been discussed
> by the panel and that it was still unresolved. She said she sent a
> memo with a sample of the logo to the city manager in June
> authorizing him and his staff to revise it.
>
> Bowden told the council the flag was ``not a symbol today, tomorrow
> or ever of bringing people together.''