ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – As we close in on July 1, the day local governments get the freedom to decide what to do with their Confederate monuments, more and more are calling for their removal.
A large group of people packed the Franklin County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night to share their opinion, the majority of them saying the statue has to go.
COVID19 social distancing restrictions complicated the meeting, as many idled in the hallway outside the meeting room and those that did get in were temperature checked at the door.
Inside the room, some like Henry Turnage didn’t mince their words.
“I’m not here to talk about what the Civil War was about, I’m here to say the statue today represents terror for my family,” Turnage said.
There’s a growing call for county leaders to remove the statue from in front of the courthouse. It’ reads "to the memory of the Confederate dead of Franklin County. Gerald Connor argued that’s all it is.
“It’s not about slavery, it’s not about any other thing than honoring those confederate dead," Connor said.
Connor and others said they’d like to see a monument to Booker T. Washington, the famous African-American thought leader born in Franklin County, erected in front of the courthouse alongside the Confederate monument.
The Confederate monument is a replacement of the original after a driver crashed into and destroyed it about a decade ago. There was no agenda item for the monument Tuesday and no board member addressed it from the dais. Supervisor Lorie Smith said she doesn’t speak for the board, but did say she was paying attention to what the speakers had to say.
“But I certainly think that we need to address and take up issues as we move through time that have an impact for good or better, or if there are adversities. It’s our job to take these issues up," Smith said in an interview.
County leaders could possibly just do nothing at all, or could put the topic on a future agenda. Some opposed to removing the statue said it’s their heritage, while those in support say someone else’s heritage shouldn’t infringe on their rights.
“It is our place to realize that war memorials should be viewed with consent. Someone shouldn’t have to avoid driving in front of the courthouse to consent to see that memorial," Bill Prillaman said.