This is Viewpoints for Sunday, August 20, 2017

Letter to Mayor Reichert

In light of the recent attack in Charlottesville, Virginia and the peaceful march against white supremacy in Macon, it is time that we remove the Confederate statue at the intersection of Cotton Avenue and Second Street and place it in Rose Hill Cemetery.

In 1878 the statue was erected as a memorial to those who died during the Civil War. About 50 years ago it was removed from its original location and placed where it exists today. We, as a community, can move it again. As a local Macon historian I love our great city, and I know that this symbol of American divide does not represent our current community. As our city’s leading representative I am asking you to make the right decision to move this symbol of one of our nation’s darkest times.

Having known you through community engagements, I know the great value you place on education and history. I am not advocating that we erase history, but instead, embrace our history passed and use it to write our future. This statue exists as a memorial to those who perished in some of the bloodiest battles our nation has ever seen. It deserves to stand in Rose Hill Cemetery near the graves of the Confederate soldiers. Let it be a memorial to times past and tell an accurate and historical narrative of our city. It should not be standing in the heart of our city as a representation of our modern community.

I encourage you mayor to make the right choice.

The mayor and commission are prevented from relocating the Confederate memorials or any other memorials related to past wars by state law.

Offended

Virgil Watkins is offended by a statue. Aww, poor baby. So he wants to shove his tender hurt feelings down our throats? I never owned slaves and he never picked cotton. Take a break and fix some roads instead of tilting at windmills. I am offended by the Tubman Museum. She was, technically, a criminal. Ask Dred Scott. I am offended by Cesar Chavez street, he was a trouble maker, I am offended by St. Simon’s Island. It reminds me of the English and how they held my people in Ireland down for so long. I am offended by Black History Month. I am offended by La Fiesta and Cinco de Mayo.

Get the picture? Should we rewrite history books so that the Civil War and other unpleasant periods never happened? I’m sure the Seminoles would like it. Statues offend Watkins? That answers a great question as to why there are so many crimes in Macon-Bibb. Commissioners have nothing better to do than “be offended.”

Big boy pants?

Commissioner Virgil Watkins, I have a question. If this statue offends him so much why is he just now complaining? Could it be a cry for attention, political maneuvering, ingratiating himrself to a vocal minority? Come now commissioner, tell us your true motives.

I doubt that Confederate soldier was ever jailed, MLK Jr. was, maybe we should take down his name and statues, he was a criminal.

I think Watkins needs to put on his big boy pants and work for the county before he starts grandstanding and stirring up the pot to see how much stink will come out. Unfortunately, most of the people who have grown up and realize there are two sides to every story, will not respond to his grandstanding. They are glassy-eyed over their smartphones, video games and some football team.

Macon’s Confederate monuments

As a life long African-American resident of Macon I have an opinion on above subject. As a tax paying property owner, I have no problem with these symbols. However, I do object with them located on “public” property. So removing them to private property with private maintenance should be an “ultimate” solution.

Turn off Russell Parkway

The tragedy at Charlottesville and the possible removal of Confederate statues in Macon pull on our collective heartstrings wrought by the symbolic remnants of the War Between the States, such as those expressed by Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Virgil Watkins, “I find it to be an offensive piece of art that reminds me of a point in history where my ancestors were oppressed and were slaves.”

While dismantling of Confederate statues is in the air again, perhaps it’s time to revisit another Southern icon, Sen. Richard B. Russell.

A U.S. senator from Georgia for 38 years, he became one of the most influential senators of his time. As a staunch military supporter and namesake of the highway entering Robins Air Force Base, he was also an outspoken figure for racism.

Sen. Russell, a proud segregationist, unashamedly blocked and defeated civil rights legislation and had co-authored the Southern Manifesto in opposition to civil rights.

Russell began contesting civil rights legislation as early as 1935, when an anti-lynching bill was introduced in Congress. By 1938 he led the Southern Bloc in resisting such federal legislation.

To label him a Jim Crow politician is appropriate; he strongly defended white supremacy and apparently did not question it or apologize for his segregationist views, votes and speeches.

From 1935 until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Russell used his clout as leader of the Southern Bloc in the Senate to prevent the passage of national civil rights legislation. After President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, Russell, along with more than a dozen other Southern senators, including Herman Talmadge and Russell Long, boycotted the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Russell’s stand on civil rights was costly to the nation embracing civil rights and to Russell himself. It contributed to his defeat in a bid for the presidency, often diverted him from other legislative business, limited his ability to accept change, weakened his health, and tainted his historical record.

Just as it’s past time to dismantle the statues in Macon, perhaps it’s also time to rename Russell Parkway since diversity, not segregation, should champion a new era of the International City. Let me propose “Robins Way” as the replacement.

This story was originally published August 19, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, August 20, 2017."