Georgia’s public employees will continue to get Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee’s birthday off, but according to the state government’s internal calendars, each of those holidays is now known only as “state holiday.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that that names of the two holidays were nowhere to be found on the holiday schedules emailed out to state employees this week that called the days instead “state holiday.” Gov. Nathan Deal’s (R) spokesman Brian Robinson told AJC the holidays will be continue to observed even though the state no longer will “spell it out by name.”
AJC’s comparison to a previous year’s calendar showed how mentions of “Confederate Memorial Day” and “Robert E. Lee” had been scrubbed. Georgia observes Confederate Memorial Day in April and Lee’s birthday on November (although the Confederate general was actually born January.)
“There will be a state holiday on that day,” Robinson told AJC. “Those so inclined can observe Confederate Memorial Day and remember those who died in that conflict.”
