Calls to remove Confederate marker in Lawrenceville coming from Republicans, Democrats — and head of Gwinnett’s historical preservation board
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Lawrenceville, GA (Gwinnett Daily Post) — The calls to remove the Confederate memorial that is located on the Lawrenceville Square came from all sides on Sunday.
Both District Attorney Danny Porter, a Republican, and his Democratic Party opponent in this year’s election, Patsy Austin-Gatson, called for the monument to be removed from the grounds of the Gwinnett County Historic Courthouse during a protest rally on the square Sunday. So too did state Reps. Shelly Hutchinson and Gregg Kennard, Gwinnett school board member Everton Blair, soon-to-be-school board member-elect Tarece Johnson and Democratic Party county commission District 1 candidate Kirkland Carden.
Even the chairman of the Gwinnett County Historic Restoration and Preservation Board, Aaron Ragans, and board member Marlene Taylor-Crawford called for the monument’s removal.
“This monument to hate has no place in our county,” Ragans said. “I, like all of you here, would like to see it removed entirely, but given that state law is not on our side, we’ve got a plan. This monument needs to be moved and framed with context as to what exactly Confederate memorials served to do across this nation.
“And at this spot, we need a new monument to the lynching victims that lost their lives in this county (including) one, Charles Hale, who lost his life at this very corner in 1911.”
The Historical Restoration and Preservation Board is planning to call a special meeting to vote on sending to the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners a recommendation to move the memorial. State law protects Confederate monuments from being destroyed, but officials can pursue efforts to move it.
Ragans said the date and time of the meeting is expected to be announced this week, and that it will be held online to allow for safe public participation during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic. Officially, the board as a whole, has not taken a stance on the issue yet.
“We cannot speak on behalf of the Historical Restoration and Preservation Board, but we can speak as members of the board, so we stand in support,” Taylor-Crawford said. “So we want you to know we will fight with you until the very end.”
Sunday’s protest rally highlighted the broadest range of groups and individuals who support removal the memorial, which was erected in 1993 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Supporters of its removal wrapped a “Black Lives Matter” flag around it during the rally.
Johnson, who is a co-founder of the Alliance for Black Lives and a co-organizer of Sunday’s rally, said the event proved to be an opportunity to educate people about the history of the county, and particularly the Lawrenceville Square.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand there were actually lynchings in this exact area,” she said. “This monument that was put up in 1993 — the name of the monument is ‘Lest We Forget’ — it’s just such an offense to the movement we’re in today.”
Bipartisan support for removing the memorial
One of the most interesting twists is that both candidates for district attorney who will appear on the ballot in the November election are calling for the memorial’s removal.
Porter is believed to be the first Republican elected official in Gwinnett to publicly call for the monument’s removal.
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