Tag: confederate monument
Monuments Commemorating Confederacy Persist in Alabama
About 48 memorials honoring the Confederacy were removed in 2022, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
However, the report noted that many southern states, including Alabama, make it a crime to remove the monuments, most of which went up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to celebrate white supremacy.
“This is not what democracy looks like,” said Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project for SPLC. Read more.
Monuments Bill Killed; Lawmaker Calls Members Racist
MONTGOMERY — An Alabama legislative committee on Wednesday voted down a proposal that would have given counties and municipalities more flexibility in removing historical monuments, including Confederate statues. Afterward, the Democratic sponsor of the bill accused Republicans who voted against it of being racist.
Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, sponsored the bill that would have amended the 2017 Monument Preservation Act. It was voted down by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
“Many of those individuals who voted against this bill are members of the Republican Party, they are ‘Trumplicans’, and they have their beliefs because they are in power and they actually exude white supremacy here in the state of Alabama, especially in the House of Representatives so it doesn’t surprise me that they voted against the bill,” Givan told reporters. Read more.
Birmingham Council Agrees to Fine for Covering Confederate Monument Base
Earlier this month, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin yielded to protestors’ demands to remove the controversial Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument from Linn Park.
The statue was driven to an undisclosed location — for its protection, Woodfin said — and the city was promptly sued by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall for violating the state’s Memorial Preservation Act. Marshall has said he will be seeking a $25,000 penalty.
On Tuesday, the City Council voted to pay a different $25,000 fine associated with the Confederate statue — this one resulting from the actions of former Mayor William Bell, who ordered the statue covered by a black plywood barrier in August 2017. Read more.
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.”
He called for the removal of the monument during an earlier rally in Kelly Ingram Park but did not foresee the response that his call would receive. Read more and watch two videos.
Senate Panel Discusses Confederate Monuments Bill
MONTGOMERY — A state lawmaker wants to increase penalties for cities that violate the state’s law protecting Confederate monuments, but others are concerned about creating financial burdens for smaller cities and the lack of an appeal process.
Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, said he introduced the bill in order to preserve the state’s history. “How can you tell the complete story by taking away, by whitewashing, by doing away with something that really you can learn something from it,” Allen said.
Allen’s Senate Bill 127 would increase penalties for violating the 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act from a total of $25,000 to $10,000 a day. Read more.
High Court Rules Confederate Monument Outside Birmingham City Hall Cannot Be Covered, Fines City
UPDATED – The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the city of Birmingham had violated state law by covering a Confederate monument outside City Hall. The decision reverses a previous ruling by the Jefferson County Circuit Court and orders the city to pay $25,000 in penalties to the state of Alabama.
The monument in question, in Birmingham’s Linn Park, was ordered covered in August 2017 by then-Mayor William Bell following deadly riots surrounding a Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Virginia. The monument, then-City Council President Johnathan Austin contended, “celebrate(s) racism, bigotry, hate and all those things that the South has been known for.”
By covering the monument, Bell said he intended to “challenge” state law, specifically the just-passed Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017, which prohibits local governments from moving or altering historically significant buildings or monuments that are more than 40 years old without permission from the state. The Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument was first placed in Linn Park by the Pelham chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1905. Read more.
State Asks Judge to Protect Confederate Monument While Lawsuit Appealed
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall fired the latest salvo in the battle over historical monuments in the state, filing a motion to stay a Jefferson County judge’s ruling that the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act is unconstitutional.
Then-Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Michael Graffeo said in his Jan. 14 ruling that the law essentially forced a pro-Confederacy message on the city of Birmingham. Read more.
Judge Tosses Memorial Protection Law in Case Over Birmingham Confederate Monument
Updated: A Jefferson County judge has voided a state law that protected historical monuments.
Ruling in a case over the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Birmingham’s Linn Park, then-Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Michael Graffeo said that the law essentially forced a pro-Confederacy message on the city of Birmingham.
“Just as the state could not force any particular citizen to post a pro-Confederacy sign in his or her front lawn, so too can the state not commandeer the city’s property for the state’s preferred message.” Read more.
Questions Raised About Legal Protections for Historic Monuments in Court Hearing Over Linn Park’s Plywood Screen
After nearly three hours of debate, lawyers for the city of Birmingham and the state of Alabama left court Friday with homework instead of a ruling on the matter of the Confederate monument in Linn Park.
The city erected a plywood screen around the monument and sought to challenge a state law signed in May 2017 that protects monuments. But in court Friday, Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Michael Graffeo raised questions related to older laws dealing with Confederate monuments. He asked lawyers for the city to address his questions by May 4. Attorneys for the state will then respond.
Lawyers also argued over whether, if the judge does decide to fine the city, that find should be a flat $25,000 or $25,000 a day, which would be more than $6 million. Read more.
