Ministers could rally this week to push for Confederate statue removal, Ellis says

Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis is renewing his call for Confederate memorial statues to be moved from downtown Macon.

Ellis, who made a similar bid two summers ago, also said a rally of African Methodist Episcopal ministers from across the midstate could be held Wednesday to push for the removals.

“Those statues do not belong in the center of our city,” he said Monday. “We’re serious about moving them.”

Two notable Confederacy memorials in Macon are the statue at the intersection of Second and Cotton streets honoring soldiers who fought for the South and a statue on Poplar Street honoring the wives, mothers and daughters of those soldiers.

Ellis said he’d like the Confederate soldier statue moved to the area of Rose Hill Cemetery where Confederate soldiers are buried.

State law prohibits the removal or relocation of Confederate memorials located on public property, and several Macon-Bibb commissioners said last week that the community has more pressing concerns to deal with.

Still, Ellis, who served as mayor from late 1999 until 2007, said the statues “don’t represent anything of value” to Macon-Bibb County’s black residents, who make up about two-thirds of the county’s population.

Macon officials, he said, should follow the lead of other cities, including Baltimore and New Orleans in moving Confederate memorials.

“Let’s do the right thing,” he said. “We’re talking about putting them in a very respectful place ... where people can pay tribute.

“No one wants any violence. We don’t want shouting and screaming.”

Ellis added, “At the end of the day, more people are going to be on the side of moving” the memorials.

“It’s time. Just like (former Gov.) Nikki Haley did in South Carolina” when she called for removing the Confederate flag from the grounds of the statehouse.

“South Carolina didn’t sink into the sea,” he said.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Ministers could rally this week to push for Confederate statue removal, Ellis says."