Artur Davis Weighs in On the Confederate Flag Issue

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Sun Apr 26, 2009 at 13:21:04 PM CDT

Dowdell later said, "If I had my way, I would have broke them (the flags) all up and stomped on them and burned them. That flag represents another country, another nation."

Dowdell then went on to say that he would make certain the flags would never be placed there again.

Congressman Artur Davis, who was visiting Auburn yesterday, had this to say

Davis, who had a campaign stop at the Olde Auburn Ale House, said graves are deeded private property, and Dowdell did not have the right to take the flags.

"We have to live with each other no matter what our differences and no matter what our history. We're simultaneously the capital of the civil rights movement and the capital of the Confederacy," he said. "Neither one of those parts of our past is going to disappear, and whoever is governor of this state has a moral obligation to respect all Alabamians."

Davis said he understands the multiple meanings associated with the flag.

"There are undoubtedly people who are offended by the Confederate flag, and they every right to be. And there are undoubtedly people who venerate the Confederate flag and honor it, and they have every right to do that, too," he said. "The question is are there things we have in common?

"The fact that my ancestors were on one side of the Civil War and some of my constituents' ancestors were on the other side doesn't mean we can't work together and find a common ground."

Davis is going to have to address sensitive issues of race during his campaign for governor. More specifically, Governor's races in the South have been won and lost on the Confederate Flag issue. (See Georgia 2002 Roy Barnes and Sonny Perdue) Davis made some very planned comments that will certainly not be the last he makes in addressing race issues. Some will argue that these were very deliberate attempts to gain white support. I think it was a smart and calculated effort to address an issue that like or not can affect the election.