The residents of Marion County WV and the surrounding areas request the immediate removal of the portrait "Harriet “Aunt Hat” Whitely’s last enslaved person sold in Marion County.  We feel choosing this individual out of all those available is an insensitive choice.  African Americans in Marion Co have a rich and prosperous history beyond being enslaved. African American individuals such as Mr. Armstrong, Mrs. Cousins, Mr. Belmear, Dr. Hinton, Mrs. Charolette Meade, or our Own Kitty Dooley Esq displays the vast talent we have in modern-day African American history.  While "Aunt Hat" has a place in our history her legacy is better preserved in a museum or in WV history books where children learn about the travesties of being born and sold into enslavement to suffer a life of servitude right here in Marion Co.  Symbols of enslavement bring forth traumas African American must internalize and overcome along with the microaggressions we suffer every day. It does not behoove us to be reminded of this trauma on a daily basis as we drive from downtown into our neighborhoods.