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Due to the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia over the removal of a Confederate statue, Mayor Jim Gray of Lexington, Kentucky is fast tracking the moving of Confederate statues from where they now stand on the downtown square for more 100 years to a new location.
Mayor Gray was just set to make the proposal for such a move sometime this week but was forced to expedite things as a result of the Charlottesville chaos. Gray will ask the council that those statues be moved to Veterans Park instead and stand alongside two Union statues.
Mayor Gray said:” The violence that we’re seeing today, the hatred that we’re seeing today, that’s wrong, and we must be vigorous as elected officials in calling it out just for what it is. We can not always decide on the timing, but it’s so important that we speak out vigorously now against hatred, against bigotry, and discrimination and prejudice.”
Amy Taylor, professor of history at the University of Kentucky agrees with Gray and said that moving the statues is “simply the right thing to do.” He also said that he does not think it is right to “continue to honor and glorify these men, the Confederate men.”
Gray said he drew a “lesson” from the Charlottesville incident. He said: ”And I think what Charlottesville showed , or what it revealed, is what is at stake in this conversation we’ve been having in here Lexington. That this is not a conversation about preserving an artifact of the Civil War. It’s a conversation about to what degree we’ll allow symbols of white supremacy in our public spaces.”
There are also glaring increased security around the downtown square where the Confederate statues are located since Sunday. Gray said there are “officers that are prepared and on duty and we’re prepared for any event that might occur.” He does not think, however, that outsiders will come to the city to cause trouble.
If the council approves Gray’s proposal, it’d go to the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission. The commission is not set to meet again until November, so Gray will just have to ask it to make a quicker decision.
The end of the Civil War was 152 years ago, even if born right at the end and still somehow alive today, what exactly do you think they will remember, and that assumes that they are not mentally decrepit
Savannah 'fake name & creds' Smith, you're dead right, I wasn't, which is why I pointed out your stupidity. As regards 'your' country, evidence please, 'you' work for a shill who lives in the Philippines, for all we know 'you' could be in a room in the Lubyanka, as regards the history, it depends on your point of view and the things associated with it. Many societies have destroyed or removed reminders of past atrocity, some refuse to even admit it, you call these people stupid names to demean them and so that you can pretend your better, yet I've seen sneering condemnations on here regarding other statues etc which you want destroying or removing Many political, religious, etc parties have destroyed, defaced, etc, the statues, images, etc of other cultures, religions, etc. In regards those you don't agree with, tough shit, they are equal under the laws, etc, if you don't like that, fuck off to N.K or China for example, see how many milliseconds your attitude would last there. Now, because you are worthless both in commenting and your reporting, to borrow a phrase, "Go away, ya bother me" :)
Next, we can move the statues at Gettysburg, and rewrite the history. The half of America that was fighting for the south that was defeated there should not be remembered as war heroes since they lost. Although they were there representing the community they came from. Places like Lexington Kentucky were home to brave Civil War veterans, and their grandchildren and great grandchildren are still alive. They remember, and it is surely a slap in the face for them to be told their kin are not worth remembering. This mayor of Lexington is obviously not representing the people of Lexington.