It's been a year since Searcy Movement, a local group of nonpartisan community members, delivered a letter of support from a group of more than 70 area residents and business owners to White County Judge Michael Lincoln to begin a conversation about the removal and relocation of the Searcy Confederate Monument. 

We ask that you join us by signing this petition to Judge Lincoln to remove this Jim Crow era monument to the Confederate States of America from the center of our city to make Searcy and White County a more welcoming community for all. 

LETTER TO WHITE COUNTY JUDGE MICHAEL LINCOLN:

July 10, 2020

The Honorable Michael Lincoln
White County Courthouse
300 North Spruce Street
Searcy, Arkansas 72143

Dear Judge Lincoln,

As citizens of White County, we write today requesting a show of solidarity with all who would call White County home. As you know, visitors to the White County Courthouse, and to the many small businesses around our court square in downtown Searcy, cannot help but notice the white marble statue standing at the corner of West Arch Avenue and Spring Street. This monument depicts a Confederate Army soldier standing at rest with his rifle on the ground. While monuments like this may be seen by some as a memorial to fallen soldiers or family members, to many others it is a painful reminder of a dark chapter in America’s past that upheld the enslavement of their family members. To many, it is also a symbol of racism and white supremacy that is unfortunately still pervasive in our society today.

This memorial to Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War was not erected at the war’s end. Instead, it was placed in 1917 amid the Jim Crow era of segregation. The monument stands on public county land and is the property of White County, [1] and therefore, as the elected public official with the fiduciary responsibility to not only maintain county property but to also serve and protect all citizens of White County, we request that you have the Searcy Confederate Monument removed from the Courthouse square, and if you see fit, to be relocated to a more appropriate space, such as the Evergreen Cemetery in Judsonia, where there are Confederate soldiers buried alongside Union soldiers, [2] or Dogwood Cemetery in rural White County, where 33 Confederate soldiers are buried. [3]

The removal or relocation of this Confederate monument is not an effort to erase our history, rather it is an effort to create a future Searcy and White County that is welcoming to ALL. We have a vision for Searcy and White County as an inclusive and welcoming community for any who would come here to put down roots or raise a family or open a small business, as well as the thousands of students who travel from across the country and around the globe to study at Harding University. A welcoming and inclusive community is also in White County’s best interest in attracting businesses that look for diverse staff and clientele, which will in turn attract more diverse visitors to these businesses, strengthening our local economy. However, the Confederate monument on our highly visible public square is a divisive physical symbol that portrays Searcy as not welcoming to some and communicates to our Black citizens and visitors that they may, in fact, be unwelcome here.

Our county courthouse is designed to serve all citizens of White County with equal rights and justice under the law. However, featuring a Confederate monument on this same county property is a constant reminder of a painful past based in slavery and oppression, the effects of which can still be felt in our society today. While the monument was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 [4], the National Trust for Historic Preservation recently stated, “most Confederate monuments were intended to serve as a celebration of Lost Cause mythology and to advance the ideas of white supremacy. Many of them still stand as symbols of those ideologies and sometimes serve as rallying points for bigotry and hate today…We believe it is past time for us, as a nation, to acknowledge that these symbols do not reflect, and are in fact abhorrent to, our values and to our foundational obligation to continue building a more perfect union that embodies equality and justice for all. Although Confederate monuments are sometimes designated as historic, and while many were erected more than a century ago, the National Trust supports their removal from our public spaces when they continue to serve the purposes for which many were built—to glorify, promote, and reinforce white supremacy, overtly or implicitly. While some have suggested that removal may result in erasing history, we believe that removal may be necessary to achieve the greater good of ensuring racial justice and equality.” [5] On Sunday, June 28, 2020 in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson agreed that Confederate monuments should be removed from public spaces, saying, “It is the right thing to do…I think it’s time to look for other places that we can know that history and remind ourselves of the lessons of that history.” [6] We could not agree more.

Relocating this Confederate monument won’t magically “fix” long-standing inequalities in our community, but this action is a step in the right direction towards a future we aspire to realize. The past we honor and endorse today will influence the minds of the generations to come. Positive change promoting equality and justice for all is what we are seeking, and the relocation of this Confederate monument from in front of our Courthouse is a good place to start. Our community has recently been promoted using the hashtag #SearcyStrong, and a Searcy standing in solidarity with ALL its citizens is truly a more unified and stronger Searcy.

We hope that you, as the most senior elected official sworn to serve and protect all citizens of White County, will prayerfully consider and ask yourself the following questions. Does upholding the legacy of racism and oppression that the Confederacy represents take priority over honoring and respecting the Black citizens of our community? Can we find common ground in creating a more welcoming community for all White County citizens and visitors by relocating this Confederate monument? Are we as a county more interested in preserving the painful past of our Black citizens, or are we willing to stand in solidarity with them and proudly proclaim that their lives matter?

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear down, and a time to mend;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak out;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace. [7]

Now is not the time for silence and complicity but a time to speak out against a hurtful symbol of a cruel era. Now is the time to uproot this symbol of racism and white supremacy that has been sewn into our society for far too many generations. Now is a time to show love to our Black neighbors, not stand by a symbol of hate. Now is a time to heal divisions and mend relationships with our fellow citizens. Now is a time to tear down this old way of life so that we can build a new, more inclusive future of peace and greater unity within our community.

We hope and pray that you will join us in this vision for a stronger, more unified community and choose a legacy that can bring our citizens together rather than uphold that which keeps us divided.

Sincerely,
Searcy Movement and the Undersigned

 

GET INVOLVED:
If you agree that the Searcy Confederate Monument should be removed from the White County Courthouse property and be relocated to a more appropriate setting, we ask that you sign this petition or contact Judge Michael Lincoln to voice your support of this effort. You can reach his office Mon-Fri 8am - 4:30pm at 501.279.6200 or wcjudgeasst@att.net.

 

REFERENCS: 
[1] Searcy Confederate Monument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searcy_Confederate_Monument
[2] Evergreen Cemetery: http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/WH1702S.nr.pdf and https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/may/21/evergreen-cemetery-holds-memorial-to-un/
[3] Dogwood Cemetery is resting place of Civil War veterans: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2014/may/25/dogwood-cemetery-resting-place-civil-war-veterans/
[4] National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/WH2320S.nr.pdf
[5] National Trust for Historic Preservation Statement on Confederate Monuments: https://savingplaces.org/press-center/media-resources/national-trust-statement-on-confederate-memorials
[6] Arkansas Governor Interview on ABC “This Week”: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/arkansas-governor-testing-increase-lobbies-greater-defense-production/story?id=71491985
[7] Ecclesiastes 3:1-8