OK Cafe Becoming Battleground Over Confederate Flag

An iconic Buckhead restaurant which has been shuttered for months after a devastating fire gutted the facility faces a politically-charged hurdle before it reopens.

It appears as though OK Cafe will be reopening soon after the December fire, but the question remains as to whether the restaurant will retain its carving of Georgia’s 1956 state flag, which prominently featured a flag of the Confederate States of America.

State Sen. Vincent Fort wants the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau to ignore the restaurant unless it agrees to remove the symbol, which he says is “counter to everything Atlanta aspires to be,” according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. OK Cafe owner Susan DeRose says she will not remove the flag, as it is a part of her personal heritage.

In the wake of a racially-motivated mass killing in Charleston, Georgia has become a battlefield for remembrance of the Confederacy, with opposing sides claiming the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia as either a symbol of southern heritage or a symbol of hatred and repression of African-Americans.

The Atlanta chapter of the NAACP has demanded the removal of the famous relief of Confederate luminaries Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson from the granite of Stone Mountain.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has proposed changes to the state’s license plates which recognize the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization. Deal tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he would like to remove the large Confederate flag that makes up the background of the entire plate.

Ok Cafe was seriously damaged in a Dec. 6 fire caused by a water heater in an upstairs space; DeRose had originally planned to re-open the restaurant in May, but delays with the city have pushed the opening back to late summer.