USA TODAY International Edition
Confederate clamor grows around country
Cities take down symbols that elicit so much anger, argument
The deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Va., brought renewed calls for governments to remove Confederate monuments and symbols from public spaces.
There have been heated debates, protests and legal action across the country, and monuments were taken down in two cities.
There are more than 700 Confederate monuments spread across 31 states — including Union states such as Massachusetts and border states such as Maryland.
BALTIMORE
Four Confederate statues were taken down Tuesday night. Mayor Catherine Pugh pledged to remove the statues Monday, and the City Council approved the removal.
Gov. Larry Hogan issued a statement Tuesday calling for the removal of a statue of Justice Robert B. Haney from the Statehouse grounds.
BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
Laws prevented Mayor William Bell from removing Confederate monuments, so he ordered a 52foot-tall Confederate obelisk to be covered with wooden panels Tuesday. Bell hopes to challenge a law passed this year that prevents the removal of structures.
DALLAS
Mayor Mike Rawlings announced Tuesday that he plans to ask his City Council to appoint a task force to help determine the fate of the city’s Confederate statues.
DURHAM, N.C.
Three demonstrators were arrested Wednesday in connection with the destruction of a Confederate monument. A woman accused of climbing the statue and securing the rope used to pull it down also was arrested.
Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper called for the removal of Confederate monuments and supported the repeal of a law that prevents the removal or relocation of monuments. Cooper’s announcement came after protesters toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier near a courthouse Monday.
Cooper tweeted, “There is a better way to remove these monuments.”
GAINESVILLE, FLA.
Workers removed a monument honoring Confederate soldiers, nicknamed “Old Joe,” on Monday from in front of the Alachua County Administration Building, the Gainesville Sun reported.
KNOXVILLE, TENN.
A monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers was defaced with green paint Wednesday.
Nearly 1,000 people signed a petition asking Mayor Madeline Rogero to remove the statue.
LEXINGTON, KY.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to remove statues from the lawn of the former county courthouse.
The Kentucky chapter of the NAACP called for the removal of a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the state Capitol Rotunda.
Mayor Jim Gray tweeted Saturday that he would take action to remove Confederate monuments.
LOS ANGELES
A monument commemorating Confederate veterans at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was taken down Tuesday after hundreds demanded its removal.
LOUISVILLE
More than 150 people rallied Monday to demand the removal of a bronze statute of Civil War officer John B. Castleman. The statue was vandalized with orange paint that same day.
Before the rally, Mayor Greg Fischer asked the public art commission to develop a list of the city’s art that may be tied to racism and slavery.
MEMPHIS
City attorney Bruce McMullen said Monday that he plans to take legal action to remove the city’s two Confederate monuments, including a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate officer who later helped lead the Ku Klux Klan.
NASHVILLE
Wednesday, Nashville’s City Council refused to suspend its rules and take up a late-filed resolution condemning white supremacy. The decision came after protesters gathered Monday to demand that a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest be removed from the state Capitol. Gov. Bill Haslam issued a statement saying Forrest should not be honored in the Capitol. Removing it would take a two-thirds vote from the Tennessee Historical Commission, thanks to a 2016 law.
STONE MOUNTAIN, GA. Tuesday, gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal of a carving that depicts three Confederate figures: Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
WILMINGTON, N.C.
Two Confederate statues were vandalized with spray paint on Wednesday. Someone tied a rope around one of the statues possibly in an attempt to topple it, according to Wilmington police.