ATLANTA Georgia avoided a potential boycott of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Southern Christian Leadership Coalition (SCLC) when its General Assembly earlier this week voted to dramatically change its state flag, which had carried a large, controversial depiction of the Confederate battle emblem.
The new flag, which has already been raised over Georgia s statehouse, carries a much smaller Confederate battle emblem, which is now shown as one of five small historic flags on a ribbon below the state seal.
The Senate voted 34-22 to change the flag; less than 24 hours later Governor Roy Barnes signed the new flag into law.
The NAACP and the SCLC had threatened to boycott the state if the flag were not changed by the end of the session in March.
“We were at a crossroads, at a point where we could start losing business and tarnish our image if we didn t come up with a flag that united the state. Georgia will now shine in a new light to the nation and to the world as a progressive state that is embracing our equality,” said Spurgeon Richardson, president of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau in a statement. (2/1/01)