Lexington Confederate Statues: Council Votes To Relocate

LEXINGTON, KY — Lexington's Urban County Council voted to relocate two Confederate statues located on the lawn of the former courthouse days after white nationalist protesters clashed with counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said in a statement Saturday that he would ask the Lexington-Fayette County Urban County Council to ask the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission for permission to take down the statues of John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge.

A large crowd cheered Thursday night as the council unanimously voted to approve a proposal to relocate the statues, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. Gray has 30 days to propose a new site for the statues. Afterward the city will ask the military commission to move them. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Catch my @CBSThisMorning interview on our true history, American violence & the future of Confederate statues at 7:30 this morning. pic.twitter.com/nBwkldEDYC
— Mayor Jim Gray (@JimGrayLexKY) August 14, 2017

Cities and states nationwide are expediting plans to remove Confederate monuments from public property after violence over a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville pushed leaders to reconsider wiping away much of the remaining Old South imagery.

Two statues were taken down immediately, in Gainesville, Florida. The Daughters of the Confederacy removed a statue of a Confederate soldier known as "Ole Joe," and protesters in Durham, North Carolina, used a rope to pull down a Confederate monument dedicated in 1924.

Anti-Confederate momentum seems to indicate more memorials will also come down soon. Many local and state governments other than Lexington said they would remove statues and other imagery from public land, or at least consider doing so.

The changes were publicized as President Donald Trump defended Confederate statues in wide-ranging remarks.

"This week it's Robert E. Lee. I notice that Stonewall Jackson's coming down," Trump said during a visit to Trump Tower in New York. "I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"

Asked specifically whether Charlottesville's Lee statue should come down, he said: "I would say that's up to a local town, community or the federal government, depending on where it is located."

All around the country, Republican and Democratic officials at the state and local levels moved swiftly to begin a process to remove the statues.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he would ask the Legislature to reverse a 2015 law signed by his Republican predecessor, Pat McCrory, that prevents the removal or relocation of monuments, and to defeat a measure giving immunity to motorists who strike protesters. He also planned to ask state officials to determine the cost of moving Confederate statues and to give him options of where they could go.

"Our Civil War history is important, but it belongs in textbooks and museums?— not a place of allegiance on our Capitol grounds," Cooper said in a statement.

In Maryland, GOP Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday he would push to remove the statue of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, author of the infamous Dred Scott ruling in 1857 affirming slavery, from state land.

"While we cannot hide from our history, nor should we, the time has come to make clear the difference between properly acknowledging our past and glorifying the darkest chapters of our history," said Hogan, who before had resisted calls to move the statue.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings announced plans Tuesday to ask his city council to appoint a task force to study the fate of the city's Confederate statues. Rawlings said he personally finds the monuments to be "dangerous totems," but a task force would ensure a productive conversation.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, called on state officials Monday to remove a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry general and an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan, from the Tennessee Capitol. Protesters earlier draped a black jacket over the head of the bust while cheering, "Tear it down!"

Similar plans were being made in Baltimore and San Antonio, as well as Lexington, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; and elsewhere.

In Durham, Sheriff Mike Andrews said protesters who toppled a nearly century-old Confederate statue in front of a North Carolina government building would face felony charges. The Confederate Soldiers Monument, dedicated in 1924, stood in front of an old courthouse that how houses local government offices. The crumpled and dented bronze figure has been taken to a warehouse for storage.

Deputies later arrested Takiyah Thompson, who identified herself Tuesday as the woman who tied the rope that was used to tear it down. She said her actions were justified because Confederate statues represent white supremacy.

A law professor and director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University in San Antonio called removal a "slippery slope," saying judging historical figures through a modern lens can be difficult.

"A healthy democracy and people within that democracy should be able to say, 'This is our history.' And history is made up of actions of human beings, and human beings aren't perfect," said Jeffrey F. Addicott, who stressed he was speaking for himself and not the law school.

Statues, he added, can be moved, but he's opposed to them being "put in a warehouse never to be seen again because then you're kind of erasing or rewriting history."

The Sons of Confederate Veterans condemned attempts to take down Confederate statues around the country.

"These statues were erected over 100 year ago to honor the history of the United States," added Thomas V. Strain Jr., the group's commander in chief. "They're just as important to the entire history of the U.S. as the monuments erected to our forefathers."

Strain, who said his group did not participate in Charlottesville, condemned the Klan, white nationalist groups, neo-Nazis and other extremists.

"It's painful to watch for lack of better words," he said. "It was our family that fought, and it was our families that died, and now we have these knuckleheads hijacking the flag for their own purposes."

But city and state officials said Charlottesville convinced them it's time to move on from having Confederate imagery in prominent public places.

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press

Associated Press reporters Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington, Claudia Lauer in Dallas, Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky; Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tennessee; Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina; and Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Jason Dearen/Associated Press; r.plenge via Flickr/Creative Commons