In an order issued Friday afternoon, a DeKalb County judge said the “nuisance” Confederate monument in the Decatur square should be “immediately relocated.” Judge Clarence Seeliger issued the order in response to a complaint that Decatur’s city attorney filed against DeKalb County. The order said the 30-foot obelisk — which has fallen back in the spotlight during recent protests about racism and police violence toward black people — should be placed into storage until further notice.

“In short, the Confederate obelisk has become an increasingly frequent target of graffiti and vandalism, a figurative lightning rod for friction among citizens, and a potential catastrophe that could happen at any time if individuals attempt to forcibly remove or destroy it,” Seeliger wrote.

Georgia state law makes it extremely difficult for local governments to relocate or remove Confederate monuments, though the updated law adopted last year does include language that allows for “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection and interpretation” of monuments. Seeliger’s order references a more general section of state law that allows local judges to address public nuisances that are “manifestly injurious to the public health or safety.”

DeKalb County has been trying to get rid of the Lost Cause monument — which was installed nearly 50 years after the Civil War and suggests that Confederate soldiers were fighting solely for states’ rights — but has had little luck. Last September, the county added a contextualizing marker near the obelisk, which stands near the old county courthouse. The marker says that the monument was erected to “glorify the ‘lost cause’ of the Confederacy” and has “bolstered white supremacy and faulty history.”
- more at link: https://www.ajc.com/news/local/breaking-dekalb-judge-says-confederate-monument-should-removed/L6pwyzbEiLmEQ9w2mXnGmK/