*Someone carefully arranged Confederate battle flags on the grounds of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church in Atlanta, and authorities said Thursday they were looking for two white males who were captured on surveillance camera leaving the banners behind.
Atlanta police Chief George Turner said his agency was working with federal authorities and hate crime charges have not been ruled out.
An officer from the Atlanta FBI’s joint terrorism task force was on the scene “to better determine if any specific threats were received” and to provide support to Atlanta police, FBI Special Agent Steve Emmett said in an email.
King preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue. The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the historic church and its new building — where congregants now meet and where the flags were placed — are a short walk from the home of King’s grandparents, where the slain civil rights leader lived for the first 12 years of his life.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer, called placing the flags a “terroristic threat.”
“It is a hateful act,” he said. “I view it as an effort to intimidate us in some way, and we will not be intimidated.”
Atlanta police Officer Gary Wade said a maintenance worker discovered the flags at 6 a.m. Thursday and notified the National Park Service, which operates the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, which is adjacent to the church.
“Our grounds men were so upset, they took pictures and then they moved them,” said the Rev. Shanan Jones of Ebenezer Baptist.
The flags weren’t stuck in the ground but instead set neatly on top of it. One was placed on the ground near a bell tower and poster that said: “Black Lives Matter.” The slogan has become part of a movement of civil rights supporters who say police treat blacks unfairly.
This isn’t the first time Confederate flags have been placed at the King Center.
“It was disturbing and sickening, but unfortunately not terribly surprising,” Warnock said of the latest incident. “We’ve seen this kind of ugliness before.”
Her new agency will put together a European tour for her in the spring.
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