Only hours after a protest organized by white nationalists against the removal of a Confederate monument erupted in chaos and deadly violence Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, a Southern mayor announced the violence had caused him to speed up plans for relocating Confederate statuary in his town.
Jim Gray, the mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, said he had planned to make the announcement later this week. The violence, which claimed the life of on person and injured 19 others, prompted him to announce those plans Saturday afternoon.
In making this decision, Gray joins the mayor of New Orleans and Charlottesville in removing Confederate monuments from public grounds. Officials in Baltimore, Memphis, Jacksonville, Florida and Nashville — where the Republican governor has called for a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest to be removed — are proceeding with similar plans.
Meanwhile, in Durham, N.C., protesters took matters into their own hands Monday, toppling a Confederate statue from its base.
As we have seen, efforts to remove monuments in New Orleans and Charlottesville have been met with anger, confusion and, finally, violence.
There are an estimated 67 Confederate monuments and statues in Mississippi cities and towns, including the Confederate monument that was erected in 1912 on the grounds of the Lowndes County courthouse.
The language inscribed on the monuments include words such as “noble cause” and “sacred heritage” and loving tributes to the Confederacy and what it represented.
They were erected well after the end of the Civil War, at a time when Jim Crow was at the height of its resurgence.
Historians say these monuments sent an unmistakable message: The white elites of the South had finally returned to power.
They are an offense to many, especially for black Mississippians for whom the “noble cause” for which these men fought and died was nothing short of pure evil.
Cities and towns throughout the South are going to have to confront this issue, including our community.
There are those who believe it particularly incongruous that a monument celebrating soldiers, who fought and died to subjugate an entire race of people occupies ground where all are supposed to be equal under the law.
Should these monuments be moved? If so, where would be a suitable place to put them? If not, should some effort to provide the full context be displayed prominently nearby? Or should objections to the monuments go unheeded?
These are questions that need to be discussed in a calm, civil manner where all views are given a fair audience.
We may not agree on what the Confederate monument means, but we can all agree that whatever decisions are made, they must not be accompanied by the violence we have seen in Charlottesville.
It is better to have this discussion now when the flames of passion do not cloud our judgment.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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