Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi state government offices will be closed Monday for Confederate Memorial Day. The actual date is supposed to be April 26, but some do it on Saturday, others on Monday. This was a new one to me. I didn’t know there was a Confederate Memorial Day. Dalton, Georgia will be celebrating the holiday on Saturday by having ceremonies at the Confederate Cemetery in West Hill Cemetery. Dalton Mayor David Pennington is scheduled to speak. Re-enactors will fire a three-volley salute, while members of the American Legion will play “Taps.”
It looks like there are only a few ceremonies in each state, and there’s criticism of those. Mississippi NAACP president Derrick Johnson says, “Confederate Memorial Day is “an affront” to people whose ancestors were enslaved.” However, the Alabama commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Robert Reames, says it’s proper to recognize the sacrifices of people the Confederate soldiers.
According to an AP article I ran across, other southern states, from South Carolina to Texas, have different holidays that honor the Confederacy.
For more information, see: http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/local/local_story_114190348.html
and http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=129478
