South Fulton County

South Fulton to look at renaming streets, cemeteries and more with ties to Confederacy

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — There are several streets, schools and other places in the city of South Fulton that are named after Confederate generals or linked to the Confederacy in some way.

Now, the city council has created a task force that will research the history of the names so it can decide whether to rename or remove the names from different things across the city.

“It’s time for change,” said Omar Greene, who lives in South Fulton.

He told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes that renaming things in the city of South Fulton that celebrate the Confederacy, or Confederate leaders in the Civil War, is the right thing to do.

“Sometimes the past should be left in the past. You can’t forget the past because you got to know how you want to proceed in the future. I think it’s a great step you know so people can have some sense of closure of the past and it’s about time everyone moves forward and is on the same page,” Greene said.

But not every South Fulton resident agrees.

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“Ain’t no need to change. Most of the stuff, like that cemetery up there, mine as well leave it like it is. They need to have somebody go up there and clean it, that’s what they need,” another man said, not identifying himself.

He’s talking about the cemetery called Red Oak on Roosevelt Highway. Confederate soldiers are buried there.

The South Fulton City Council created a task force that will research places like the Red Oak. They’ll present their findings to the council, and they’ll decide how to proceed.

National activist Marcus Coleman grew up in South Fulton and told Fernandes that it’s about time these places are renamed.

“In this particular part, especially where were standing, my grandparents around the corner with the first black homeowners and that was back in 1974, I was a baby. And crosses were burned in their yard and tomatoes thrown at the house. So this area didn’t think to kindly of people who look like you and I,” Coleman said.

The task force will be made up of eight people who research the names of the city’s streets, schools, bridges and cemeteries.

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