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Rensselaerville refuses to denounce Confederate flag
Oct 13, 2020 1:28 pm
The Altamont Enterprise reports that the Rensselaerville Town Board is another municipality rejecting a resolution to denounce flying the Confederate flag. Last week the Adirondacks town of Tupper Lake refused to officially oppose racism, including the display of the Confederate flag. In Rensselaerville, in southern Albany County, April Roggio proposed a resolution denouncing the practice of flying a flag of traitors to the United States who believed slavery was more important than keeping the country together. “I think you should acknowledge that there is a fraying in our social fabric throughout this country and here,” Roggio told the town board at its Sept. 24 regular meeting, “and that we can start doing something to repair that.” Rensselaerville resident Sarah Gordon previously organized a campaign for local businesses to support the Black Lives Matter movement. “If upon being asked, our Town cannot condemn the battle flag of an enemy state – a state that fought to protect the institution of slavery in the 19th century, and a flag that today waves as a proud symbol of the knee on the neck of Black people in the 21st century – the crickets chirping in the deafening silence would be that of our town’s inherent fragility and privilege, being a place populated 96 percent by white people as reported by the Census,” Gordon said. But the four board members present said that it would be inappropriate for the town to voice an opinion on residents’ private symbols. "I’m not a racist, I would never hang a Confederate flag in my front yard … but I also know some very good people who do fly these flags," Deputy Supervisor Jason Rauf, a Republican, said. So the board did not denounce flying the Confederate flag in Rensselaerville. Read more about this story in the Altamont Enterprise.