Historic monument bill stirs debate over Confederacy

In the end, a debate on historic monuments Tuesday turned to a question of state authority and local power.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, would remove cities’ power to remove monuments commemorating "an event, a person, a  group, a movement, or military service that is part of the history of the state."  Cities that wanted to do so would have to embark on a two-month process that would involve extensive advertising and public hearings. The ultimate decision would lay with a state committee.

Allen said after the meeting Tuesday he believed that putting the decision in the hands of the state would give the committee access to resources at the Alabama Historical Commission local governments may not enjoy.

“I think access to all the data and the people who understand the history is far better,” Allen said.

The senator filed versions of the bill in both special sessions of the Legislature last year. They did not pass.

Nine people, all black, were shot and killed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., last June. Pictures of the accused shooter, Dylann Roof, who is white, showed him posing with symbols of white supremacy, including the Confederate battle flag.

Gov. Robert Bentley ordered the removal of four Confederate flags from a Confederate monument after the shootings. Legislative leaders had Confederate flags removed from the Old House and Senate chambers at the same time.

Some cities, including New Orleans, have begun to remove stone monuments to the Confederacy. Birmingham’s Park and Recreation Board voted last July to remove that city’s Confederate Soldiers & Sailors monument. A Confederate heritage group lost a lawsuit to preserve the monument, though it was still in place in early January.

Allen, who says his bill is not about Confederate monuments, made changes to the bill that create a permanent legislative committee to oversee state monuments and allow the Historical Commission to charge fees for its work. The process of removal remains in place.

At a public hearing in the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday, defenders of the monuments accused those trying to remove of them of an attempt to remove history.

“Don’t disgrace my grandfather or your grandfathers or these people’s grandfathers by allowing political correctness to come in this state and start destroying the history of this country,” said Mike Williams, adjutant of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. “It’s about Confederate monuments, but it’s also about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other famous Americans.”

Kevin Mount of Verbena quoted a speech from a black Republican legislator in Mississippi in 1890 – at a time when Mississippi was moving to disenfranchise black voters – defending Confederate flag. A copy of the remarks, reported in a March, 1890 edition of the Pascagoula Democrat-Star circulates on pro-Confederate websites.

“Confederate history should not be a white/black issue,” he said. “It wasn’t a white/black issue in 1860. It wasn’t a white/black issue in 1890.”

Opponents said the bill usurped local autonomy and said monuments to the Confederacy, founded to defend slavery, would be offensive to black communities that may live near them.

“It should be left to local decisions,” said Rev. Rayford Mack, representing the Metro Montgomery NAACP. “If a majority decided to erect a monument, why shouldn’t a majority decide to remove it?”

Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said in earlier versions of the bill, cities would have to hold public hearings to remove plaques.

“I would submit to you these decisions are best made at the local level,” he said.

The Senate committee did not vote on the legislation Tuesday. Allen said he believed he had the votes to pass it.

A House committee is scheduled to take up its version of the legislation Wednesday.

Updated at 4:55 p.m. with citation from 1890 newspaper.