LOCAL UPDATE: The Confederate monument in Decatur comes down

[klook]

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After years of pressure and a recent court order, the Confederate monument in the downtown Decatur square has come down.

By 10:30 p.m. Thursday, a large, energetic crowd had gathered near the 30-foot obelisk, which a DeKalb County judge ordered last week should be removed and put into storage. Word had spread quickly as law enforcement and construction crews gathered in the area and a crane was brought in to pluck the monument from its perch outside the historic DeKalb County courthouse.

Police officers on the scene moved observers away from the gazebo near the monument, which was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

By 11:30 p.m., the crowd had grown to a few hundred. And like that, the obelisk was pulled from its pedestal.

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-confederate-monument-decatur-appears-coming-down/1SfeR7g7YZdScfGI5NVfSJ/

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Erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, this 30-foot monument to white supremacy stood for 112 years as a reminder of which lives matter. No more. Happy Juneteenth!



More coverage:

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/confederate-memorial-removed-decatur-square/2EONBLRIWNFK3J7IOD7HQBIUB4/

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/decatur-square-confederate-monument-removed/index.html?utm_content=2020-06-19T09%3A29%3A01&utm_source=twCNN&utm_term=link&utm_medium=social

[CottonBear]

1. Great news! I hope the Confederate obelisk in Athens, GA will be removed next.

The GA GOP passed legislation, with the aim of preventing the removal of these racist monuments, however there is apparently a legal way to remove the monuments.

[klook]

2. Yes.

Mayor orders county to look into removing Confederate monument downtown, commissioners speak on protest


Protest in Athens, May 31, 2020

[CottonBear]

3. The mayor and commission have agreed on a plan to move the monument!

https://flagpole.com/news/in-the-loop/2020/06/17/commission-plans-to-move-confederate-memorial-and-close-college-square/

Commission Plans to Move Confederate Memorial and Close College Square



Athens-Clarke County officials are planning to move the Confederate memorial on Broad Street downtown as part of a plan to close College Square to traffic and widen the crosswalks leading to the UGA campus.

Mayor Kelly Girtz pledged earlier this month to move the monument and instructed Attorney Judd Drake to find a way around a state law prohibiting the removal or alteration of publicly owned monuments.

Officials found no records indicating that the monument is publicly owned. In addition, according to a memo signed by Manager Blaine Williams, the 1872 monument has become “a lightning rod of friction among citizens” and a “catastrophe” waiting to happen if individuals try to move or destroy it. The state law—passed in 2001 and strengthened in 2019—allows monuments to be moved for their protection or preservation.

But if moved, monuments must be placed at a site of similar prominence. ACC officials chose a site off Timothy Place near the Loop, which has twice the vehicular traffic of Broad Street. It’s also near Barber Creek, the site of a skirmish that was the only action Athens saw during the Civil War.

[Princess Turandot]

4. They argued that the statue had become a lighting rod for protests/counterprotests..

..and that sooner or later, someone was going to be badly hurt because of the presence of the statue. In particular, they worried that an amateur attempt to topple the thing would happen sooner than later, and that the risk of that going badly - i.e. falling atop people - was very real.

The judge had the ability to determine if the statue as a 'public nuisance' that is “manifestly injurious to the public health or safety", regardless of the statue protection law. He agreed that it was, told them to take it down by 6/26 and store it somewhere.

[CottonBear]

5. Thank you for the legal information! N/T

[riversedge]

6. more good news.

[NurseJackie]

7. Can someone please spackle-over or smooth-down the carving on Stone Mountain?

[llmart]

10. I was going to post something like that.

They need to do whatever they have to and get rid of that ugly nonsense.

[Tech]

8. Every confederate monument that comes down gives me a little hope for the future.

[Roc2020]

9. welcomed news

[Aristus]

11. Good. Put up a statue of Sherman in its place. That's history.

n/t

[93_NCSU]

12. One down ... hundreds to go ....

[brer cat]

13. Good news.

I hope they soon start renaming streets and schools.