Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church called the flags a “hateful act”.
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But for Warnock, there was nothing accidental about the careful placement of four Confederate flags at a historic site dedicated to Martin Luther King.
A conference about the role of black churches in social justice has been ongoing in Ebenezer, Jones said.
The pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
“This is the same as a swastika on the campus of a Jewish temple”, said the church’s Senior Pastor, Rapael Warnock.
The Atlanta police is working with federal authorities on the case, but they aren’t sure if any charges can be sought or if any crime had actually been committed.
Meanwhile, Atlanta police say the people who placed the flags could be prosecuted for criminal trespassing, terroristic threats, littering and vandalism to a place of worship.
According to Yahoo.com, a maintenance worker discovered the flags at approximately 6 a.m. Thursday and notified officers at the National Park Service, which operates The King Center.
“We have had incidents before even at the King Center near Dr. King’s tomb”. The latter banner is a complicated symbol that represents both Southern valor in battle and the political oppression of blacks in the South in the run-up to the civil rights movement.
The incident comes just a few weeks after the killing of nine churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Police and federal authorities are investigating after Confederate battle flags were left around Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. Another was placed next to a sign that reads “Black lives matter”.
A security guard saw a suspicious vehicle across the street from the church Wednesday night, but it wasn’t clear whether that was related, Wade said.
“We’ve seen this kind of ugliness before”, he said, adding that it was disgusting but not surprising.
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The pastor has been outspoken on recent police shootings, the massacre in Charleston, S.C., and the debate over the Confederate flag. “We tried to have a meeting this morning and we were told that it was not the right time”, said NAACP attorney Gerald Griggs.
