Lawmakers in Delaware voted to deny state funding to the Georgetown Historical Society because of the Confederate flag flying over one of the society’s properties.
Senator Trey Paradee from Dover initiated the vote to remove the historical society from a list of nonprofit organizations that would receive funding from the $55 million Grant in Aid package. The historical society was slated to receive $14,433. In a statement Paradee said, “I will not play any role in supporting organizations that continue to celebrate the Confederacy and the traitors who fought for its failed racist ideology of hate and enslavement.” Paradee also pointed to the adoption of the Confederate flag as a symbol by hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan as a reason the state should not fund organizations that fly the flag.
While the flag and a monument commemorating Delaware residents who fought for the Confederacy stand at the Marvel Museum owned by the historical society, both objects are maintained by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A representative from the Sons of Confederate Veterans said that they do not see the flag as a hate symbol.
Local civil rights groups and the NAACP have repeatedly called on the state to stop funding for the organization and for the monument to be removed. One such request came after the 2015 shooting in South Carolina in which a white supremacist killed nine African Americans. The shooter had posted pictures of himself posing with the Confederate flag prior to the shooting.