Macon mayor rejects plan to build Black Confederate memorial, wants community feedback

Macon-Bibb County commissioners recently OK’d the creation of a Black Confederate memorial, but the move is now at a standstill.

Mayor Lester Miller rejected the plan Tuesday during a pre-commission meeting, saying he would “hold off” on discussing the issue again until he receives feedback from the local Black community, NAACP and United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The association for women related to Confederate Civil War veterans offered to fund a plaque honoring Charley Benger, a Black Confederate non-combat soldier who played the fife, or a small flute, for the Macon Volunteers 2nd Battalion in 1812, according to previous reporting by The Telegraph. The memorial would have been built at Soldier’s Square in Rose Hill Cemetery under the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

The commission voted 5-3 to accept a donation and build the plaque earlier this month. Commissioners Paul Bronson of District 2, Seth Clark of District 5 and Virgil Watkins Jr. of District 8 opposed.

But Miller had the authority to make the final decision on whether Macon should accept the plaque or not, even after the commission’s approval.

Watkins thanked the mayor for delaying the plaque’s development, but hoped there would be no room for discussion on the matter again.

“It is my hope that we can get to the point where it is a no, without conditions,” Watkins said at a commission meeting Tuesday. “As an African American leader in this community, there is no context with which that we should be honoring or bringing forth any more about Mr. Benger than we already have. I’m comfortable leaving it here to die.”

Newly sworn District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart agreed, and said it was wrong to ask Black people to approve such a resolution.

“There’s no place in the 21st century, America, Georgia, Macon for the Confederacy,” Stewart said. “The atrocities of the Confederacy are akin to asking a Jewish person to approve something dealing with the Nazis.”

Still, discourse on the plaque’s morality could make its way back to the commission.

Miller asked the local Black community, NAACP and United Daughters of the Confederacy to meet and write a report about their views on the issue, which would then be presented to the public before further debate.

“There is no plan to enact any plaque at this cemetery,” Miller said at the commission meeting Tuesday. “We do look forward to what comes of that meeting.”

This story was originally published October 18, 2024 at 9:19 AM.