ATLANTA (August 18, 2015) | Sen. Vincent Fort (D- Atlanta) has released the following statement on OK Café’s use of the Confederate emblem following this morning’s Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau meeting:
“Today I requested to the Atlanta Convention and Visitor’s Bureau that they ask the OK Café not to reinstall the Confederate emblem that had been in the restaurant before the recent fire closed the establishment. I told ACVB’s Executive Board that even though the OK Café was not currently a member of their organization the ACVB needed to show the same kind of leadership they did fifteen years ago during the fight to change the state flag. I also told them that after the Charleston massacre the debate over Confederate symbols has intensified and changed.
I was gratified when William Pate, ACVB’s President and CEO, said he would draft a letter to the owners of the OK Café requesting they not reinstall the Confederate symbol for the board’s consideration. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “It is always the right time to do the right thing”.
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For Immediate Release:
August 18, 2015
For Information Contact:
Jennifer Yarber, Director
Adam Sweat, Sr. Communications Specialist
Adam.sweat@senate.ga.gov
404.656.0028