{"id":261253,"date":"2021-05-27T22:24:47","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T19:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue\/"},"modified":"2021-05-27T22:24:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T19:24:47","slug":"inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue\/","title":{"rendered":"#Inside a Black Alabaman\u2019s fight to remove a Confederate statue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26b7bdd3501\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a26b7bdd3501\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue\/#%E2%80%9CMy_people_suffered%E2%80%9D\" >\u201cMy people suffered\u201d<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue\/#%E2%80%9CObstacles_keep_changing%E2%80%9D\" >\u201cObstacles keep changing\u201d<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Inside a Black Alabaman\u2019s fight to remove a Confederate statue<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>The second paragraph contains language that may offend some readers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Ever since Camille Bennett started her campaign to relocate a Confederate statue from outside the county courthouse in her hometown of Florence, Alabama, she has seen it all: threats, violent online messages and intimidation attempts.<\/p>\n<p>There was the suggestion from a white pastor that somebody wire her mouth shut; then there was the time a white motorcyclist sped towards her and two boys during a racial justice march last summer, telling her to \u201cget the fuck out the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bennett has always received pushback for her activism in her small conservative community, but she says her most harrowing experience h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ened in 2017, when five Ku Klux Klansmen (KKK) in hoods and robes heckled her at a local park during a LGBT Pride event she\u2019d been asked to address.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was terrified. I was extremely intimidated,\u201d said Bennett, the only Black speaker at the park event. But, she added, \u201cthe work brings me an immense sense of joy. I don\u2019t let the threats define me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lori Feldman, 42, a white woman who supports the removal of the statue honoring soldiers of the pro-slavery Confederacy and moved to Alabama in 2017 from Brooklyn, New York, was present when Klansmen heckled Bennett at a park.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was clear they wanted to make a statement of hate,\u201d Feldman said of the KKK, a white supremacist group that has terrorized Black communities for over a century. \u201cThere were kids who were crying, who were scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But intimidation isn\u2019t the only obstacle for those committed to removing Confederate symbols. Bennett, like many other Black civil rights advocates and their allies, continues to face legal and political roadblocks at the state, county and city level.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CMy_people_suffered%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>\u201cMy people suffered\u201d<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"Bennett poses at the entrance to a confederate cemetery in Florence, Alabama\" class=\"wp-image-18362667 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-3.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Bennett poses at the entrance to a confederate cemetery in Florence, Alabama.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Reuters\/Lawrence Bryant<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bennett, 43, whose mother is a minister and who is a minister herself, founded the nonprofit Project Say Something in 2014 to push for racial justice for Black Americans.<\/p>\n<p>One of its core missions has been to get Florence to confront the meaning of Eternal Vigil, the ghostly white marble statue of a nameless Confederate private in front of Lauderdale county\u2019s courthouse.<\/p>\n<p>During the Civil War of the 1860s, Southern states in the Confederacy fought the North to preserve their economy based on chattel slavery of captive Africans and their descendants born in America.<\/p>\n<p>Over 300 monuments to the Confederacy stand in America, mostly in the South, especially in Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group.<\/p>\n<p>Many Confederate monuments were erected well after the war \u2013 Florence\u2019s statue was completed in 1903 \u2013 after Reconstruction when white Southern segregationists were working to reverse Black political and economic gains. The monuments have long been symbolic for white supremacists like the KKK, which was founded by Confederate veterans.<\/p>\n<p>The county turned down a proposal by Bennett to erect next to the monument a statue of Dred Scott, who lived in Florence for 10 years in the 1800s and whose effort as an enslaved man to gain freedom led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. After her proposal was rejected, Bennett called for relocating Eternal Vigil to a Confederate cemetery less than a mile from the courthouse.<\/p>\n<p>But the Lauderdale County Commission\u2019s five members, all white Republican men, refused, citing a 2017 state law prohibiting the removal or relocation of monuments.<\/p>\n<p>That law is part of a larger effort by GOP lawmakers in several states, including Georgia and West Virginia, to prevent the removal of statues following a nationwide movement to topple Confederate monuments. The Republican-backed bill passed in the Alabama legislature despite the opposition of legislators, such as Thomas Jackson of Thomasville, a Black Democrat who spoke of what Confederate statues symbolize for Black Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy people suffered,\u201d Jackson said during debate on the proposal. \u201cDon\u2019t bring back those harsh memories that we went through so much to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Josh Dodd, who is white and chairman of the Lauderdale County Republican Party, is opposed to moving Eternal Vigil. \u201cIt\u2019s very important to a lot of people to remember the past and to remember those who died on both sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The United Daughters of the Confederacy, which funded Florence\u2019s statue at the turn of the 20th century, says it adamantly rejects removal.<\/p>\n<p>The group advocates \u201cthat all such monuments remain in their original location with their original messaging,\u201d its attorney, Jack Hinton, wrote in a letter to an Alabama state senator last year.<\/p>\n<p>The original messaging around Eternal Vigil, as demonstrated by one initial 1903 speech at its unveiling, was\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/msnha.oncell.com\/en\/confederate-monument-190334.html\">explicitly against social equality<\/a>\u00a0for Black people in the South.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CObstacles_keep_changing%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>\u201cObstacles keep changing\u201d<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"Bennett speaks to council members on moving the confederate statue to the confederate cemetery during a council meeting in Florence, Alabama May 18, 2021.\" class=\"wp-image-18362683 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Bennett speaks to council members on moving the confederate statue to the confederate cemetery during a council meeting in Florence, Alabama May 18, 2021.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Reuters\/Lawrence Bryant<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Amid nationwide protests against racism following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in Minnesota in May 2020, the movement to take down Confederate symbols accelerated. In 2020, over 160 Confederate monuments were taken down, compared to 58 between 2015 and 2019, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.<\/p>\n<p>Bennett and supporters \u2013 Black and white \u2013 began marching in central Florence last summer to demand the relocation of Eternal Vigil after Floyd\u2019s murder. In July 2020, three Lauderdale County residents filed suit, demanding that the statue remain in place. Their suit calls the statue an \u201chistoric and irreplaceable monument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In October 2020, Florence City Council unanimously passed a resolution backing the relocation of the statue to the cemetery, citing \u201cconcerned citizens\u201d who want it relocated and the fact that some residents have agreed to pay the costs of removal. The city built a concrete base in the cemetery for the statue.<\/p>\n<p>But because the statue sits on county property, the city asked the county for permission to remove it.<\/p>\n<p>Danny Pettus, who is white and chairs the county commission, told Reuters he would never support the statue\u2019s relocation, citing the 2017 state monument preservation law. Violating the law could result in a $25,000 fine.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Betterton was elected mayor of Florence in November 2020 on a promise to relocate the statue. But now Betterton and members of the county commission say their hands are tied because of the civil lawsuit. The suit is now with a circuit court judge, who has ordered a stay on all actions involving the statue until the litigation is resolved.<\/p>\n<p>Betterton declined to be interviewed by Reuters. In a statement he said the lawsuit has constrained him, but added: \u201cThe removal and relocation of the statue is definitely one of my priorities and I feel optimistic that we will see it removed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Bennett the delays feel like obstruction. \u201cThere have been several obstacles and the obstacles keep changing. So you\u2019re going to be suspicious that everyone is working together so this monument is not removed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>But she added: \u201cOne way or another, we will prevail. We will not stop.\u201d\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/27\/inside-a-black-alabamans-fight-to-remove-a-confederate-statue\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Inside a Black Alabaman\u2019s fight to remove a Confederate statue&#8221; The second paragraph contains language that may offend some readers. Ever since Camille Bennett started her campaign to relocate a Confederate statue from outside the county courthouse in her hometown of Florence, Alabama, she has seen it all: threats, violent online messages and intimidation attempts&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/remove-confederate-statue-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[107443,3724,12331,76219,5378,4937,27933],"class_list":["post-261253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-27-21","tag-alabama","tag-confederate","tag-harrassment","tag-history","tag-racism","tag-statues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}