Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is expected to announce as early as today how the city will deal with removal, modification or renaming of Confederate iconography around the city.
In an interview on Friday with WABE radio, Reed said he was reviewing the recommendations from a select committee charged with coming up with plan to address the fate of Confederate symbols around Atlanta. The committee was appointed by Reed and the city council.
The committee held public meetings this fall and heard from supporters of removal as well as those who want Confederate street names, monuments and plaques left alone. The committee gave its report to Reed last week and Reed said it supported renaming streets.
“Candidly, they want action taken immediately on streets that it really doesn’t take a scholar to understand that they’re offensive,” Reed told WABE. “So regarding streets like Confederate Avenue, East Confederate Avenue, any street named after Confederate leaders like Nathan Bedford Forrest or John B. Gordon or Robert E. Lee, they believe these should be changed immediately.”
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