(Image source from: MSN.com)
The Democrat candidate for Georgia governor at one time helped burn the state flag as part of a protest, it has come out.
Stacey Abrams, who is aiming to become the first black female governor in America, torched the flag at the Georgia Capitol as part of a student demonstration in 1992.
Abrams, who is running against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, was taking part in an ultimately successful effort to have the Confederate battle flag removed from the state flag.
An image of Abrams at the flag burning was printed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time and reprinted by the New York Times on Monday.
The picture shows three students from Spelman College setting light to the flag, with Abrams watching in the background.
A statement from Abrams campaign said: "During Stacey Abrams college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag.
"This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag."
Abrams' campaign against Confederate symbols did not stop in her student days. Earlier this year, she called for the removal of a Confederate carving in Stone Mountain.
She called the carving, which shows President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson on horseback, 'a symbol of white supremacy'.
Kemp defended the artwork as a historical relic.
The Confederate flag was included in the Georgia state flag in 1956 amid a backlash against racial integration following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
In 2001 the size of the Confederate symbol was reduced by then-Governor Roy Barnes - the last Democrat to hold the post.
Barnes subsequently fought to have it removed completely, and while he succeeded, he lost a re-election bid in the process.
It is unclear what - if any - effect the picture of Abrams burning the flag has had on the polls.
Kemp's campaign is attempting to press the issue, painting her as 'too extreme' for Georgia.
-Sowmya Sangam
