A Civil War battlefield museum in Georgia is closing its doors after a local politician demanded that the establishment discontinues its use of the Confederate flag.
After Commissioner Dee Clemmons of Hampton, Georgia, demanded that the Nash Farm Battlefield Museum tear down the flags in its Confederate displays that explain the battle to visitors, the museum decided to close its doors, saying it could not properly explain history if half of its displays were to be censored, WFMY reported.
Tim Knight, who represents the nonprofit group that runs the museum, said Clemmons spoke with the color of authority of the county and felt that he was given no choice but to close the museum.
“Nash Farms has always represented both sides of the conflict,” Stuart Carter, a supporter of the museum, said of the five-year-old establishment.
“Sure I understand some people find the imaging of (the Confederacy) offensive,” Carter added. “But if we try and erase it from history, then we can’t remember how we messed up and why we shouldn’t go back there again.”
The group running the museum insisted that it could not properly relay the history of the 1864 battle without its Confederate artifacts and displays.
But a county spokesperson said it was “reasonable” to demand that the Confederate flag displays be censored.
“I think it’s reasonable. I think there were plenty of artifacts in the museum that can tell the story of the Civil War. And I think it was a reasonable request,” county spokeswoman Melissa Robinson said.
The controversy comes amid similar discussions in states across the south, as Charlottesville, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, debate removing Confederate symbols and memorials.
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