Lake County Commission does about-face on Confederate statue
TAVARES — Lake County commissioners reversed their support for bringing a Confederate general statue to a local museum, telling an angry crowd of critics on Tuesday that they would ask the Lake County Historical Museum not to display the statue after all.
The decision whether to bring the statue of Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith to the Tavares museum ultimately rests with the Historical Museum and not the County Commission. But faced with strong opposition from a largely African-American crowd on Tuesday, most commissioners backtracked on their support.
About two dozen people spoke against moving the statue here from the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C., where it has represented the state since 1922. The Florida Legislature decided to replace it with a statue of civil rights leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune.
“In the past, there was hatred, there was bigotry, there was all those things that were divisive in nature,” Reginald Green told commissioners. “And when we see those things brought back to the surface, you as a commission do not represent those things. You represent the people, and the people are here today to say that this is not what we want. We will not go back, we will not remember those things and perpetuate the things of the past.”
Tavares pastor Lilly Brown was not swayed by characterizations of the statue as a historic artifact.
“Because if that is allowed, I could imagine other things coming in that are called history,” she said. “I could imagine that putting on a white sheet and a hood and displaying it and calling it history. I could imagine getting a tree and a noose, a rope, hanging it on a tree, and putting on that tree a black man or a woman or a child and calling it history. So I stand representing our race asking you, please, whatever you can do, do not allow that statue to enter into our county seat.”
When the speakers had finished, each of the five commissioners addressed the crowd, all acknowledging that they long had been privy to museum curator Bobby Grenier’s plans to compete for the statue and that they had supported the idea.
“We didn’t have other input at that time,” Commissioner Wendy Breeden said. “And so while I supported (Grenier) in his efforts, at this point I feel like I hope the Historical Society will make a different decision because I’m not sure it’s right for our county.”
Commissioner Sean Parks and Chairman Tim Sullivan agreed.
Commissioner Leslie Campione defended the statue as an important historical piece.
“History hurts because mankind has done awful things throughout history to one another,” she said. “It’s just the reality of history. And that’s where these important lessons come from, by not burying or deleting history. It’s just there, and hopefully, we learn from this history.”
But while she believes the monument has historical value, she backed off her support for moving it here.
“It’s the fact that if it hurts, and if it divides us apart, that’s the only thing I find compelling about this entire discussion, and I don’t want to be a part of that,” she said.
Only Commissioner Josh Blake stuck by his support for bringing the statue to Tavares. Blake compared it to the Roman Coliseum, where thousands of Christians were slaughtered for sport under the Emperor Nero.
“But under no circumstances would I advocate closing down the Roman Coliseum because of that hurtful history. If they bulldoze the Coliseum and wipe that off the face of the earth, that does nothing but cause people to forget what is possible,” Blake said. “Human beings can be depraved creatures and I think it’s important for us to remember the possibility of that human depravity.”
In the end, Sullivan assured the crowd that the commission would tell the Historical Museum “that there is no longer a want or desire to bring this statue to Lake County.”