Also overlooked is the fact that Georgia governor Sonny Perdue couldn´t be bothered to do anything to mark the occasion, in sharp contrast to his quick response to the death of staunch segregationist Lester Maddox. As noted at the Top 10 conservative idiots:
-
Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, died last Monday at the age of 65. And to recognize the great work of this civil rights pioneer, Gov. Sonny Perdue did... absolutely nothing. Despite pleas from the public to commemorate Jackson's passing by lowering the state flags to half staff, Perdue announced that he would only lower the flags on the following Saturday, for the funeral service. But the very next day, Perdue couldn't get those flags down to half staff fast enough. A sudden change of heart? Hardly. Perdue was memorializing Lester Maddox, a former governor of Georgia who died two days after Maynard Jackson. Maddox is fondly remembered as a die-hard segregationist who chased black people away from his restaurant with a hand gun and a mob armed with axe handles the day after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law (he later sold the restaurant rather than serve blacks.) So thanks, Sonny Perdue, for demonstrating where your priorities lie.