Public Safety
FunnyMaine Talks About New Monument, How Second Protest Happened
Jermaine “FunnyMaine” Johnson, Birmingham native and comedian involved in Sunday night’s protest over the Confederate monument in Linn Park, said Wednesday that whatever replaces that monument should represent what Birmingham is all about — “unity, strength, resilience.”
Johnson called for the removal of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Memorial during his remarks at a Sunday afternoon rally in honor of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers.
Johnson says he did not foresee the response that his call would receive and did not bear responsibility for the damaging disturbances that broke out later on downtown streets. He had urged protestors in Linn Park to disperse and give the city and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin 24 hours to remove the obelisk.
Monday night, workers removed the obelisk, and Tuesday the base of the structure was removed. There haven’t yet been official conversations about what will take the place of the monument, but certainly people have started to throw around ideas.