HUNTSVILLE — Confederate monuments and next steps were the topics of discussions at an event hosted at Mad Malts Brewing to mark the release of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman’s (D) book, “Stealing Our Democracy.”
Among those in attendance included House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville), who discussed the simmering controversy over semblances of the Confederacy on public property around the state.
Daniels argued there were two immediate steps to be taken: Repeal the 2017 Memorial Preservation Act and remove the Confederate flag from the uniform of Alabama State Troopers.
“As it relates to the Confederate monuments, I have a slightly different perspective,” Daniels said. “I am more of a big picture person. I think in dealing with Confederate monuments — yes, I believe that they should be removed. I think a part of the argument in the bill that passed in 2017 was the Confederate Preservation Act that’s preventing a lot of communities from being able to remove those locally without any type of fine or possibility of prosecution from the attorney general. I support fully repealing the 2017 preservation act, that is number one. And allowing local communities not be fined or those that have been fined to the state of Alabama refund them the money they spent in paying those particular fines — that’s number one.”
“The second part of it is we still have a problem in this state where there’s still a semblance of the Confederate flag on the uniform of our State Troopers,” he continued. “That’s not necessarily been the conversation, but those are things we have to pay close attention to. But for me, the cosmetic of it all — yes, it would make me feel good to remove the Confederate statues or any semblance of Confederacy in general.”
As far as what should happen if those two goals are accomplished, Daniels explained there needed to be a better understanding of what the Civil War was about, and a discussion on how can you change the “hearts and minds” of those governing Alabama to change policy.
“But, I think there are two things that must happen — we must think about what happens after that. We still have to educate people that don’t even understand what the war was about,” Daniels said. “My colleagues in the House of Representatives think the war was just about states’ rights. I challenge them — keep reading. Yeah, they taught that in grade school, it was about states’ rights and property. And what was defined as property? People, slaves. So I think there is this miseducation, as to what the actual Civil War was about. You have some that describe it as northern aggression. We have got to push back — not just black people, but all people. Push back on the ideology on what actually happened during the Civil War and what it was about.”
He continued, “Number two, what happens next? Once the Confederate monuments are down, what about the hearts and minds of the people that are governing this state? What about how they govern and our education system? The achievement gap in our education will continue to widen. Our access to economic opportunity will continue to be far-reached. Our criminal justice system will continue to be against those who can’t afford to pay for it. We’ve got to talk about the big picture. What happens as, when they come down — that’s great. But what happens next, and what are we prepared to do?”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
