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Jefferson County judge considers removal of Confederate statue at courthouse
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported this morning on Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson's idea to remove a Confederate statue that stands at the entrance to the Jefferson County courthouse in Pine Bluff. A hubbub is likely to follow, but he's right.
Good thing this article didn't appear a week ago, with legislation pending to usurp the authority of local government to do just such a thing. The bill failed, but the county judge's threat to move a relic of the cult of the Lost Cause might have mustered still more proponents for the bill. For now, the county judge is only looking at the idea. The newspaper quoted him:
"I think in today's time we're trying to move on, especially when dealing with racial harmony," Robinson said. "I don't think the Confederate statue depicts our country."
Robinson does not dispute the historical significance of the monument, but he said the history reflected by it refers to a time in American history when slavery tore apart the nation and mired it in a civil war that has cast a shadow ever since.
"That's not what this country is about," Robinson said. "We need to move on from it."
Robinson does not dispute the historical significance of the monument, but he said the history reflected by it refers to a time in American history when slavery tore apart the nation and mired it in a civil war that has cast a shadow ever since.
"That's not what this country is about," Robinson said. "We need to move on from it."
Amen. The statue memorializes the fight to preserve slavery. The 20th-century effort to memorialize that fight with statues all over coincided with a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan and other concrete illustrations of a desire to hold back black people. Its symbolism is striking at the door of the seat of law for a county that has a majority black population and still bears the marks of centuries of discrimination.
The statue was commissioned and installed at Pine Bluff High School, not the courthouse, in 1910 by the local United Daughters of the Confederacy. A high school building project prompted its move to the courthouse in 1974. It's a tribute, the historical records say, to David O. Dodd, "boy martyr of the Confederacy." Dodd was hanged as a traitor for spying on Union forces and is the namesake of the UDC chapter that held a tea, bazaar and other fund-raising activities for the statue.
Read more: https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2019/04/14/jefferson-county-judge-considers-removal-of-confederate-statue-at-courthouse