Florida’s Confederate statue proves sticky
Replacement approved in 2016, yet still he stands
Despite the national uproar over Confederate symbols, Florida is keeping its statue for now.
Lawmakers passed a law in 2016 that the statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith must come down from Washington, D.C.’s, National Statuary Hall. But nothing’s been done because they’re not yet sure who will replace him.
The law required a committee of historians to come up with three potential replacements. But the House turned down their top choice, African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune.
Now, the violence and mayhem surrounding the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va., has given a renewed sense of urgency to taking down Smith’s statue.
“No family visiting our nation’s Capitol should have to explain to their child that the statue representing our state honors someone who fought for a philosophy built on hatred and oppression,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, said in calling for a one-day special session to make the change.
State Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, on Thursday made the same request.
“With the recent acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, it is more imperative than ever that we complete the process we started in 2016 to replace this statue,” Berman wrote. “There is no place for racism or bigotry in our civil society, and Florida certainly should not be represented in our nation’s Capitol by General Smith. Let’s finish the job and get this done immediately.”
But a special session can be called only by the governor or by an agreement between House and Senate leaders. And both Republican Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, say the decision can be made in the regular legislative session, which begins in January.
Even if a replacement is approved, Congress will have to act on the Legislature’s suggestion and the statue will have to be made. The process could take months.
At the same time, other Republican leaders want to rethink the entire notion of taking down Confederate monuments.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam said Tuesday, “We should be learning from that process, not just eradicating it from memory.”
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to lament “the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”
Each state gets two statues in D.C.’s National Statuary Hall, representing famous native sons and daughters. Florida’s are air conditioning pioneer John Gorrie and Smith, the last Confederate general to surrender a major military force.
Smith — the statue, not the man — became a casualty of the initial wave of Confederate memorial removals after the Charleston church shooting in 2015. In the next year’s legislative session, the Florida Legislature voted to replace Smith. A committee established by the state’s Division of Historical Resources would choose three finalists.
That committee selected Bethune, Everglades conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas and businessman George Washington Jenkins.
Bethune, the daughter of slaves, started a private school for black students in Daytona Beach that would eventually become Bethune-Cookman University. Douglas wrote the book “The Everglades: River of Grass,” a 1947 work that changed public perception about the Everglades. And Jenkins founded the Publix supermarket chain.
A Florida sculptor, Nilda Comes, was selected to craft the replacement statue.
During this year’s legislative session, the Senate agreed to change the statue to Bethune. But the House filed a bill to replace Smith with Douglas, and even that bill died when state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, took issue with the selection process and suggested that a statue of Walt Disney would be more apt.
Plans are already in place to move forward on the replacement in January, but it’s still unclear who will replace Smith in Statuary Hall.
State Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, said he has already filed a bill for the 2018 session that will, once again, offer Bethune.
“The entire black caucus as well as many other members are going to again be following suit,” he said.
Bethune’s prospects are dicier in the House. Still, House leadership is determined that one of the three finalists will get a bill heard.
“It’s just a matter of which of the three,” said Corcoran’s spokesman, Fred Piccolo.