The State of South Carolina has many war memorials, and one erected on the Courthouse grounds by the citizens of Anderson SC in 1901 is one of the oldest in the State.

Calls for the removal are instigated by those who are ignorant and dismissive of history and the motivation by the citizens of Anderson 119 years ago to honor the Confederate Dead and the reasons they defended their homes and family 160 years ago.

The statue of the Confederate Dead is a memorial to those who would defy tyranny and fight for the freedom of the people of South Carolina just as their fore-bearers during the Revolution. 

There are those in this state who are bigots and bring calls to eliminate everything that they don't agree with. But those of us who hold a time honored tradition of remembering those that came before us will not allow the eradication of history. 

We stand and say in one voice to Mayor Terence Roberts and the council members to fulfill their oaths of office to enforce and uphold the law of South Carolina that protects this and every monument and memorial in the state. 

Protection of Certain Monuments and Memorials
10-1-165, SC Code of Laws
Prohibits the relocation, removal, disturbance, or alteration of monuments or memorials erected on public property of the State or any of its political subdivisions to the “Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, War Between the States, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Native American, or African-American History”. Also prohibits renaming or re-dedication of a street, bridge, structure, park, preserve, reserve, or other public area of the State or any of its political subdivisions dedicated in memory of or named for any historic figure or historic event.

George Orwell, 1984 - “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”