Unity Park’s monuments to key pioneers of the civil rights movement are not expected to be unveiled by the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors in time for Monday’s unity march.
The park, a public green space located between Mugshots and the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department, contains seven plaques meant to honor national figures who championed race relations and education efforts during the last century. Five of those plaques are engraved with the likeness of civil rights pioneers, but they have remained covered by tarps since the county education building opened in 2011. Unity Park was part of the $2 million project that led to the educational building’s construction.
Chris Taylor, the leader of Oktibbeha County’s NAACP chapter, pushed supervisors last year to formally unveil Unity Park either before or during events surrounding Monday’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Taylor hoped a ceremony could be held during the day’s unity march, an event in which residents walk the streets of Starkville in solidarity. The march route will take participants up Dr. D.L. Conner Drive, the road adjacent to the park, before ending at the steps of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse Annex.
“It’s a shame that the park isn’t open yet. We’ve been waiting on the supervisors to approve something that’s already been approved years ago,” Taylor said. “It’s disrespectful to the taxpayers that they haven’t been uncovered.”
Attempts to open Unity Park in 2013 fell victim to numerous delays and a lack of clarity from the board, but some supervisors insist the park can be and should be unveiled now. Supervisors, who commissioned District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams to seek public input on the monument’s future in January 2013, said repeatedly last year that they wanted to open the park but at the same time keep their hands off a process to designate local honorees for the two blank plaques.
Although the board has repeatedly pushed back dedication ceremony dates, District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said he doesn’t believe a board order is legally required to remove the tarps.
“We’ve already unofficially opened the park (after its construction in 2011). (The tarps) just need to be removed,” he said.
Taylor said some of his constituents have suggested they remove the tarps themselves during the rally. If that occurs, at least two county supervisors said they would not seek legal action against those individuals or demand the plaques again be covered.
“You know, they’ve blown off because of high winds before,” Trainer said jokingly.
If the county begins a process to engrave the two blank plaques, public funding streams must first be secured since the board indicated it would not spend additional funds on the project.
After numerous informal meetings last year with county constituents, Williams brought a number of public recommendations back to the board: unveil the completed monuments; honor two local civil rights pioneers, former county NAACP President A.D. Johnson and physician Douglas Connor, with the blank slates; and erect a new plaque to memorialize 1963’s “Game of Change,” a basketball contest between Mississippi State University and Chicago’s Loyola University.
Supervisors declined action on those recommendations in July due to funding questions since engraving alone could cost up to $800 per plaque.
To solve the intricacies surrounding future monuments, board Vice President John Montgomery previously said a formal committee of citizens could be created to vet nominees and secure funding. The group from last year’s talks does not function as an official sub-board of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors.
“I don’t have a problem with that. Let the committee decide (who is honored in the future). It’s not up to us to decide who is worthy of the honor, and the board just doesn’t want to be in the middle,” Montgomery said in December. “We do, however, need to get this park open soon. (If Taylor’s plan finds no support), it would be great to go ahead after a (county) meeting and just do a little ceremony to open it. Then we could get the ground floor established to form a committee for fundraising. Before you know it, money is made and names are etched.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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