Confederate Flags Placed Near Martin Luther King Church in Atlanta

Two white men who placed Confederate flags at landmarks linked to Martin Luther King in Atlanta might face serious jail time if caught. Police have surveillance video taken from Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the police chief isn't ruling out hate-crime charges, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The flags were placed at the church, once led by King, and at the nearby MLK National Historic Site. As it stands, the men could face charges including criminal trespassing and terroristic threats, reports 11 Alive.

“To place Confederate flags on the campus of Ebenezer Baptist Church—after this horrific act in Charleston [and] in the wake of all that’s happening in our country—whatever the message was it clearly was not about heritage,” says the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer . “It was about hate.” A maintenance worker found the flags early this morning and alerted the National Park Service, which operates the King historical facility. “We do have images of two white males placing those flags on the campus,” says police chief George Turner. “We’re trying to identify those folk right now.” (More Confederate flag stories.)