Slavery memorial’s fate isn’t etched in stone

On the grounds of the state Capitol in Tallahassee, you’ll find memorials that honor Vietnam veterans, Purple Heart recipients, Martin Luther King Jr., police officers killed in the line of duty, and soon, the Holocaust.

To that list, Florida House members last week unanimously voted to plan a memorial honoring those who helped build our country while wearing the shackles of slavery.

Standing in the way is the descendant of a Confederate soldier, Republican Sen. Dennis Baxley of Ocala, who used his position as chair of the Senate Government Oversight & Accountability Committee to keep the Senate companion bill from being heard.

It’s a procedural blow that usually proves fatal, but one that Florida Senate President Joe Negron can — and should — overcome.

Baxley takes issue with the bill’s title: Florida Slavery Memorial.

“I don’t want to memorialize slavery,” he told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. “I want to memorialize people.”

But that’s exactly what the bill is intended to do. It says the memorial would honor “the nameless and forgotten men, women, and children who have gone unrecognized for their undeniable and weighty contributions” to our country.

As for Baxley’s concerns about the memorial’s unstated costs, the bill simply directs the Florida Historical Commission to help the Department of Management Services develop a plan for the design, placement and cost of a memorial that recognizes the inhumanity of slavery.

Baxley says he understands the bill’s intent, but “the bill title celebrates slavery.” And for that reason, he is blocking its path.

The senator’s objections are unpersuasive, especially since last week he said he objected to the bill because he didn’t want to “celebrate defeat.”

So we asked him: What did you mean when you said the monument would celebrate defeat?

Baxley: “I used the wrong word. … I don’t think we should celebrate the adversity.”

Question: But wouldn’t this memorial celebrate having overcome adversity?

Baxley: “That’s not what the title of the bill said.”

And so it goes, a circular argument that leads back to his ability to kill a bill he doesn’t like.

For context, know that Baxley is a big supporter of all things Confederate. According to the Miami Herald, he has fought a bill that would have banned flying the Confederate flag on government property. He has fought erecting a memorial to fallen Union soldiers at a state park that contains three Confederate monuments. He has fought the removal of a Confederate general’s statue from the U.S. Capitol. And he has fought removing the word “darkeys” from the chorus of the state song, Swanee River.

This year, Baxley is unhappy that his bill to protect Confederate monuments — well, actually, to protect all war monuments — has failed to gain traction.

“That’s a concern to me. You’re supposed to be for trying to build a monument to these people, but you’re fine with desecrating other peoples’ monuments?”

It would be an unusual move for Negron to pluck the bill out of committee and schedule it for a floor vote. But he could put its House companion before the full chamber.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, said that when he spoke to Negron, he “reminded us of the process” of bills first passing committees. However, “he said when the bill gets over here, he would take a look at it.”

“It’s an important statement whose time has come,” Rouson says. “We’ve done memorials for other groups. Why not something that happened on this soil?”

In our interview, Baxley said a slavery memorial might lead some African Americans to view themselves as “victims.” He also compared modern-day human trafficking to the slave trade once legal in our country.

“We have it going on right here in our neighborhoods,” Baxley said of slavery. “…As horrible as Americans’ experience is with it, for the African-American community, the sad part is, it’s bigger than that.”

Democratic Rep. Kionne McGhee of Miami, who sponsored the bill in the House, calls Baxley a friend. He says they attend Bible study together. With committee meetings having ended, he wishes Baxley would ask Negron to schedule a floor vote.

“It’s not dead,” McGhee says. “Conversations are being had. …Sen. Baxley and I can call up the Senate president and let him know he would like to bill to go directly to the floor. It’s a simple phone call.”

Baxley says the bill “is not ready for prime time.” But he says “if they can go figure out a different pathway to get it before the body, I’m not out working against them.”

A different pathway exists to advance this bill. And Negron should take it.

It would be an unusual move for Senate President Negron to pluck the Florida Slavery Memorial bill out of committee and schedule it for a floor vote. But he could put its House companion before the full chamber.