Haralson County is where the New York Times turned to epitomize the conflict over Confederate flags and symbols, newly emboldened by the mass shooting of nine black worshippers at a Charleston, S.C., church.
In a story published Monday, Times reporter Richard Fausset found in Haralson "overt racists and avowed antiracists; students of history and those who seem oblivious to it; ardent defenders of the Lost Cause and others who do not understand why the blue spangled X on a red field — as ubiquitous here as deer stands, church steeples and biscuits with gravy — can be so controversial."
All, he wrote, in a county out I-20 toward Alabama, a ways away though no less connected from some of the major battles breaking out in Georgia over the appropriate placement of Confederate symbols.
Should the flags fly on state grounds or at Stone Mountain, a state-designated memorial? Should Alexander Stephens' statue come down at the Gold Dome?
They have thoughts in Haralson. The flag is "just about where we come from, and locally here, we're just real proud of that," Brandon Heath, the county's chief magistrate judge, told the Times.
It's what Angelica Griffin, an African-American Haralson alum, called "the great conundrum of the South." She told the Times the story of white neighbors that rallied around her mother when she lost her job, "shower[ing] her" with money and gift cards.
She also said she was "terrified" to criticize the Confederate battle flag when she attended school.
And the contradictions seem to continue: Haralson County has three times elected H. Allen Poole, a black Republican, as chairman of its Board of Commissioners; and recently elected the state’s first Asian-American Superior Court judge, Meng Lim.
Meanwhile, in a nearby county, stands the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar, which advertises as "The Original Klan, Klam & Oyster Bar" and has a menu featuring the phrase "we cater to hangins'."
“It’s complicated,” Heath said.
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