City removes Confederate statue

Mayor says it didn’t represent Little Rock; new site will be found

LITTLE ROCK — The city removed a Confederate statue Thursday from in front of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in MacArthur Park after it was vandalized Monday morning, according to Mayor Frank Scott Jr.

In a Thursday night statement, Scott said the removal is permanent.

“Our parks belong to every resident of Little Rock, who support them with their tax dollars,” Scott said in the statement, which was released just after 9:30 p.m.. “It is our intent to ensure our parks are inclusive and welcoming for all. This statue was divisive and in opposition to this administration’s internal why — to unite Little Rock.”

After the statue, known as “Memorial to Company A, Capitol Guards,” was removed, a museum program assistant, Shane Lind, said the removal was to prevent further vandalism and assess the damage to the monument.

The statue, which was paid for by the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1911, will be stored until a suitable place can be found for its display, the mayor said in the statement.

“The base is covered and will also be removed soon,” he said. “The City will work with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism to find a suitable place for the statue to be viewed in a comprehensive historical context.”

The base of the statue, also popularly known as “Lest We Forget,” was created in 1911 for a Confederate veterans reunion and honors a unit that fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy, Lind said. It bears the names of the soldiers of that unit, he said.

Scott said in the statement that the monument does not represent the current values of Little Rock.

“This statue … was erected during the United Confederate Veterans Reunion in 1911, a period of rampant segregation, inequality, and oppressive Jim Crow laws,” Scott said. “It does not represent the values of our city today nor the diverse citizenry who stand for unity and justice for all.”

“The statue that was removed from MacArthur Park did not provide the full [context] of the tumultuous time period, consequences of the war nor the legacy of the soldiers’ actions,” the statement read. “The Capital Guards were memorialized without concern for those in our community who have suffered grave injustices and whose ancestors were viewed as less than human so that they could be subjugated to terror and forced to provide free labor.”

Numerous Confederate statues around the country have been removed and vandalized in recent weeks as the nation reckons with racial unrest after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody last month.

Scott’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Jackson, told a reporter Wednesday that someone put an unknown substance on the city-owned sculpture on Monday, staining the base. Scott said in his statement that substance appeared to be varnish.

“Calls for removal of such Confederate statues have grown louder in recent weeks, and Little Rock residents have joined in,” Scott said. “Although we do not know who may be responsible, the statue’s base was vandalized this week with what appeared to be gallons of varnish.”

Other areas of Arkansas have begun movements to remove Confederate monuments, as well.

A petition has circulated in the past two weeks requesting the removal of a Confederate monument in Fort Smith, and a Bentonville Confederate monument will be moved to private property, according an agreement earlier this month. Last year, in Pine Bluff, a deal was made to move a Confederate statue from courthouse grounds to a cemetery, but the statue has not yet been relocated.