George Floyd’s uncle is encouraging police in his town of Gettysburg, South Dakota, to remove an image of the Confederate flag from their logo.
Selwyn Jones will join other residents at a City Council meeting next week to take up scrapping the flag’s image from police uniforms, according to the Star Tribune.
“The flag is something that I am sure will change now with all the things going on in the world,” Jones wrote on Facebook last month. “Why am I sure? I am sure because the people of Gettysburg, of South Dakota, of America are good people that will do the right thing.”
Jones, who is one of the few black residents of Gettysburg, asked Mayor William Wuttke about the flag the same day as Floyd’s funeral in Houston on June 9.
Wuttke said he doesn’t support the removal, but the police department is “working on something different.”
“We’re not wanting the liberals and the press telling us we have to change it,” Wuttke said. “People here do not feel it’s racism … It’s so ridiculous; 99% of the people don’t have any idea [about the logo]. It’s just something that’s there. I’ve had more local people in favor of it than against it.”
An online petition was also started by 19-year-old South Dakotan Caitlin Kroemer, calling for the removal of the flag on the police logo. The petition has reached more than 4,000 signatures.
Kroemer, who is a political science and journalism major at the University of South Dakota, said she’s been in touch with Jones about how to approach the council on the issue.
Gettysburg is named after one of the Civil War’s signature battles, which remains the bloodiest battle fought on U.S. soil.
The city, which is home to just under 1,200 residents, was settled in 1883 by Union and Confederate soldiers after “the infamous battle to honor their fallen comrades and to acknowledge those men who had survived,” according to the city’s website.
Floyd’s death led to major unrest around the world over racial injustice and police brutality, prompting protests which have escalated into calls to reconsider historical symbols deemed as racist and oppressive.
