Confederate Monuments

We, the undersigned, are calling for the removal of the Confederate soldier Memorial Statue that is in the middle of the Square in Downtown Bentonville.  The statue fosters division in our community, instead of promoting unity, diversity, and inclusiveness among residents and visitors to our great city of Bentonville, our State of Arkansas, and the United States of America.   It should be moved to a more appropriate location for historic relics, such as a museum, or the Pea Ridge National Military Park.   

Robert E. Lee Elementary in East Wenatchee, Washington should be renamed to Unity Elementary.  Robert E. Lee Elementary was built in 1953 and named after the commander of the Confederate States Army, who betrayed his country and fought against the end of slavery in the civil war. When schools are named after individuals, those names should be reserved for historical figures with overwhelmingly positive moral character and favorable impact on the local community. In this millennium, to many, Robert E. Lee is a traitor and racist icon and should not be memorialized in a school name. Robert E. Lee Elementary is the only school in the Pacific Northwest named after the civil war traitor. Washington wasn't even a state during the civil war and any ties to the Confederate States Army in the area in the 1950s would have been very distant. The school was named 88 years after the civil war, when many were creating Confederate monuments to show resistance to the civil rights era and opposition to desegregation, clearly not stances that should be memorialized in a school name. The school district debated renaming the school in the past and decided against it, as there was overwhelmingly negative local response to changing the name. In scenarios like this, the school district needs to act in the best interest of its students regardless of how the 80% white population feels about the matter and should move forward with renaming the school to Unity Elementary, a name that would represent the positive opposite of what Robert E. Lee symbolizes in 2019.

Lee County,South Carolina is a small county,one with a deeply racist history. Though segregation ended with the civil rights act of 1964,it's never ended here. By demographic,the county demographics are around 60% black,35% white.Yet the public school enrollment is 97% black,thanks to a segregation academy with the same namesake as the county itself,Robert E Lee. And on the grounds of the Lee County courthouse lies a monument to treason,a statue honoring the confederacy, a treasonous nation who went to war with the USA. The monument even dares declare the men who took up arms against this country they claim to love Heroes in bold print. In light of the shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME in the same State,a wretched act carried out by a self declared proud confederate,it is highly insensitive ,and makes it incredibly difficult for any minority to feel like they have any shot at a constitutional right; the right to a fair trial. Why should a predominantly black county honor those who fought for their enslavement? We don't build monuments to the Nazi regime. We don't build monuments to the taliban. We don't build monuments to the kamikaze pilots from pearl harbor. It may be heritage to some,but it's a heritage of hate. It's history,and it's time for its stay on the grounds of the courthouse to be history as well.    

Jefferson Davis was hailed as the “champion of a slave society” when he was selected in 1861 to become President of the Confederate States of America. Davis was an unrepentant white supremacist who fervently believed the Southern cause, slavery and segregation were right and just until his last dying breath in 1889. It is therefore outrageous that a major Virginia thoroughfare, Jefferson Davis Highway (aka Route 1) which abuts the Pentagon and other US Capital landmarks continues to bear the name of a morally depraved, non-Virginian who rejected the very idea of a United States.   The back-story of the decision in 1920 to name southern sections of Route 1 after Davis adds to the disturbing legacy of racism in America. At that time, the Daughters of the Confederacy along with US Rep. Earl B. Mayfield of Texas, a close ally of the Ku Klux Klan, began a campaign to attach the name of the Confederate president to Southern roads in a futile attempt to create a transcontinental highway bearing his name. At the height of the Jim Crow era, when lynching of Southern blacks was conducted with regularity and impunity, these advocates of white domination routed a road symbolizing black oppression and enslavement across several predominately black neighborhoods, as if to reinforce the message of racial subjugation. The choice of name is, therefore, an affront to African-Americans and, indeed, all Americans who are repulsed by the evils of slavery, segregation and racism. It's time for the Commonwealth of Virginia, to remove the name of this Confederate leader from all sections of Route 1 in Virginia. Virginia is a state that prides itself on its diversity, technological innovation, leadership in education and progress. The name Jefferson Davis is far from what the state should honor. Let's stop indulging the race haters who named the road after their race hating hero. Let’s change the image of this important roadway from hatred and rename it to memorialize hope and progress. Please sign this petition calling on Governor Terry McAulliffe, the Virginia General Assembly and the Commonwealth Transportation Board to rename  all sections of Jefferson Davis Highway.