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-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted
from the Aug. 8, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
"Burn baby, burn," protesters cheered from the State Capitol steps facing the July 19 opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Atlanta. Hosea Williams touched the fire from a wooden torch to the Georgia state flag.
"Damn you and good-bye!" Williams declared over a bullhorn as the flag melted into flames.
In 1956, the banner of the Confederacy was incorporated into the state flag in defiance of court-ordered desegregation.
"We're burning not the Georgia flag, but this enslaving Confederate symbol," Williams explained to thousands of Olympics passersby.
Civil-rights leaders and their supporters have fought for years to force the state legislature to remove the banner of the slavocracy from the flag. They vowed to bring their fight to a worldwide audience in town for the Olympics games.
Williams denounced Olympics organizers for allowing the racist flag to fly from state-owned venues.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. For subscription info send message to: ww-info@wwpublish.com. Web: http://www.workers.org)