The attack in Charleston has opened a cathartic national conversation on the legacy of the Civil War and the meaning of Confederate symbols. Arizona is not at the heart of the old Confederacy, but as a young state that has faced its own struggles to build a proud, distinctive, and inclusive identity, we have a unique place in this ongoing conversation.

Every Arizona schoolchild is taught that the westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought in this state on the slopes of Picacho Peak. An annual “re-enactment” each April 15th features hundreds of actors in blue and grey clashing on the mountainside. In reality, the “battle” was a minor and accidental engagement between Union scouts from California and a Confederate patrol from Texas. This encounter had no real strategic effect on the war, but that did not stop Neo-Confederate organizations from erecting two separate memorials in Picacho State Park during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, complete with Confederate flags and a distorted narrative celebrating the military prowess of the ten-man Confederate patrol.

The Arizona State Parks system maintains these monuments to slavery, treachery, and failure on public land. Another pre-civil-rights shrine to the Confederacy sits just outside the State Capitol. This is unacceptable and it is time for it to end.

The State Capitol also hosts memorials to veterans who fought in Korea, World War I, Vietnam, Desert Storm, World War II, Iraq, and Afghanistan. These men and women fought and died for the United States---not to tear it apart in the defense of one of its darkest practices. The placement of a Confederate monument on the State House grounds, to the exclusion of any commemoration of the Union soldiers who liberated Arizona, pointlessly identifies our state with the disgrace of the Slave Power and tells people of color and people of conscience that they cannot fully belong to our community. We would not replace the barrel and anchor from the USS Arizona with a monument to the bravery of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service, and we should not continue state-sponsored celebration of treachery and failure.

Our intention is not to erase the history of this site or cause people to forget the history of the American Civil War. The neutral monuments that already exist at Picacho, such as the Barrett memorial, should remain. It is simply that those structures that honor The Confederacy have no place on public land.

We ask the Arizona State Parks Board, Governor Ducey, and the State Legislature to take down these monuments as soon as possible. Now is the time, and with a little pressure and a little dedication, these monuments to hatred and failure will fall. Sign, call, and share widely.

Governor Ducey:                                    (602) 542-4331

Arizona State Parks Board:                    (602) 542-4174

Speaker of the House, Andy Tobin:        (602) 926-5172

President of the Senate, Andy Biggs:     (602) 926-4371