A pair of candidates for the GOP nomination to be Georgia’s next governor came out strongly in defense of keeping Confederate monuments. But many elected officials from both parties did not respond to InsiderAdvantage email and phone requests for comments on the debate about removing the monuments from public spaces.
Brian Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state and one of the candidates wishing to move into the governor’s mansion, gave a full-throated endorsement to keeping the monuments as well as the names of Confederate leaders on public facilities.
Kemp, in an email sent from his campaign, said he saw the monuments as part of history “When it comes to monuments, streets, buildings, or public structures named for Confederate figures, I believe the same as former (U.S.) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it’s best to ‘keep your history before you,” he said in the email. “We should learn from the past – not attempt to rewrite it.”
Casey Cagle, Georgia’s lieutenant governor and another candidate for governor, had a similar response. “I support keeping the state law that protects our historical monuments and sites throughout the state – our history cannot and should not be erased,” Cagle wrote. “We must remember and honor the good; we must learn from the bad and ugly so that we don’t repeat it. Instead of subtracting from our history, we should add to it – just as we’re doing this month with the dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue at the state Capitol.”
This debate heated up when state representative Stacey Abrams, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, announced her support for removing Confederate symbols from public spaces, including Georgia’s most visible such monument, the carving on the side of Stone Mountain.
Kennesaw, a small town in Cobb County, showed in the past week how controversial and divisive the matter can be. Last week, it posted a notice on the city website that the monuments in a city park are protected by state law, even quoting the law. But this week, the Kennesaw City Council voted to ask the state to return control of such monuments to local governments.
Kemp acknowledged the issue has become divisive and said it was made so by politicians trying to generate votes. “It’s sad that the radical left has used this issue to turn hardworking Georgians against each other,” he said.
Politicians contacted by either email or phone for this story who did not respond were: Michael Thurmond, CEO of DeKalb County; John Eaves, former Fulton County chairman and candidate for mayor of Atlanta; Earl Ehrhart, Georgia legislator (R-36) and Stacey Evans, Georgia legislator (D-42) and Democratic candidate for governor.
