Former UN Ambassador Andrew Young responds to Charlottesville

ATLANTA - Andrew Young said there is a lesson to be learned from images we are seeing around the nation right now. He is talking about the current fight about symbols of the confederate era.

Georgia fought a similar battle not that long ago. And, in the eyes of the two-term Atlanta mayor, the dispute did more harm than good.  

Young estimates the Atlanta and Georgia battle over whether to remove a confederate flag cost the state nearly $25 billion. 

He said our area lost out on businesses that did not want to relocate here because of the controversy.

Young will be disappointed if the "fight over the civil war" is waged again through these symbols. Instead, Young suggests, individuals use their energies and resources for progressive, substantive actions on such things as education and economic progress.