Remove the Confederate statue from Mcdonough Square

Remove the Confederate statue from Mcdonough Square

Started
June 5, 2020
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This petition made change with 15,118 supporters!

Why this petition matters

Started by William Crane

Located in the heart of Henry County, on McDonough City Square, there is a Confederate soldier statue, built in 1910 by the "United Daughters of the Confederacy". This statue was built during a movement known as the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy", a movement that tried to rewrite history by propagating a story that the stance of  Confederacy during the American Civil War was a just and heroic one.It is an  ideology that endorses the supposed virtues of the antebellum South, viewing the war as a struggle primarily to save the Southern way of life, or to defend "states' rights", in the face of overwhelming "Northern aggression." At the same time, the Lost Cause minimizes or even denies outright the central role of slavery in the buildup to and outbreak of the Civil War.


The statue not only embodies that message of denial, but acts as a constant visual reminder to POC of their position in Southern history; a white Confederate soldier looming menacingly above them in a position of power.  
It is the centerpiece to the city and the community of the square. When people leave the courthouse or city hall one of the first things they can see is this statue. When people come from out of town to do business within the city they must pass this monument of oppression. 
The previous mayor of the city was quoted as saying in the Henry Herald, “None of us were there, none of us know the motives that the different individuals had,” said Campbell. “We can only presume to know based on the accounts that have been passed down to us. One thing we do know is that it was a dark time in our history for everyone and lives were destroyed because of it. We should not let that mistake be repeated because of a 107 -year-old block of stone that stands as nothing more than a remembrance of people that died with the love of this community.” (https://www.henryherald.com/news/locals-fear-removal-of-confederate-monument-on-mcdonough-square/article_4efa82a2-f509-579b-84b6-070414fd638a.html 
If the love he is talking about is a love of reminding marginalized people that they need to remember their place, then they are broadcasting that message loud and clear-  not only to the community but to the county and the rest of the nation. 


McDonough is the hub for all of Henry County, housing several municipal buildings and hosting central infrastructure that serves the entire county. It is a thriving city, benefiting greatly from being only 37 miles from Atlanta, as well as the growing Georgia film industry. However, as long as McDonough keeps that statue on its square, it will keep an ugly souvenir of the Jim Crow era alive in the minds of its citizens. It will continue to serve as a constant reminder of the post-Civil War racism that dominated the American South well into the 1900s. This Confederate statue, a physical monument that stands for racism and exclusion will not only continue to hurt the citizens that call this city their home, but deter tourism and prospective business endeavors. McDonough is a city that is prospering and looking to innovate, advance and expand. In order for the city to succeed in moving forward, it must shed this shameful relic of a bygone era. 


This petition is to have the statue in the McDonough Square torn down or, at the very least, removed to a private site, off of public property.


( lost cause : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy#The_statues_of_Moses_Jacob_Ezekiel

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