FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Opening remarks - January 20 News Conference, by Jim Dean

We have had a breakthrough. The Heritage groups, more and more legislators and Georgians, are realizing that the flag fight in not about the flag. It's about saving American heritage.

The removal of our Founding Father names from places of honor, the increasing attacks on our religious heritage, the ethnic cleansing of Dixie....all these efforts have connected the dots for the growing populist heritage movement. They see more clearly now that the Heritage Haters want to tear it all down and replace it with their 'new and improved' politically correct version.

It is the Heritage Haters who have brought this divisiveness upon us, and it is they who must be cleansed. They have focused their attention on the leadership of both parties, tying to impose their New Georgia Order upon us from the top down (i.e., ...rigged votes and bills that never get out of committee).

The heritage movement works from the bottom up because we are grass roots Georgians from the git go. Despite the best efforts of the media spinmeisters to present this issue as dead and over, hundreds of thousands of Georgians and their supporting legislators refute that. The following list of supporters is just a partial one as we have only been able to talk to about a third of the legislators.

Find Your Rep or Senator Here

Our detractors have a familiar ruse. They routinely ask heritage supporters, 'Why don't you relent (surrender) so we can put this issue behind us?' This is a rigged question and they know it.

Before the ink was dry on the Perdue Flag bill in 2003, House Bill 899 (HB 899) was being introduced which called for the removal of all Southern heritage symbols from public property. So much for reconciliation. I doubt that the 'relent crowd' posed that same question to the "899" crowd.

We fight because we are under attack. We have no choice. All those who align themselves with the Heritage Haters are our mortal enemies, not by our choice...but theirs. When they stop attacking us, we will stop fighting back. It's that simple. The choice is theirs.

Contact your Representatives and Senators and have everybody that you know do the same to support the Flag Fair Vote bill.

We met several new people today at the capitol who want to do this. So our lobbying/activist base grows. This is how we will do it, step by step, one by one...a march to victory.

Thanks to all who came. We had five TV cameras here, several radio stations, plus the print folks, including Chattanooga, who I went out of my way to thank for their balanced heritage reporting. Don't forget to thank our friends. We can't afford to take anyone for granted. Fair people do not grow on trees.

Jim Dean
Legislative Liaison, Georgia Heritage Coalition

Jim Dean is the producer/host of Heritage TV, a member of the Military Order of World Wars living in Marietta, Georgia.  He is volunteer member and Legislative Liaison of the Georgia Heritage Coalition.

Jeff Davis' preceding remarks || Report & Photos from the event
AP News Story on Lee Celebration & GHC News Conference