A report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published recently noted that 12 confederate symbols that had been publicly displayed in Alabama were removed in the last year.
“2020 was a transformative year for the Confederate symbols movement. Over the course of seven months, more symbols of hate were removed from public property than in the preceding four years combined,” SPLC chief of staff Lecia Brooks said in a statement.
SPLC, based in Montgomery, tracks the status of Confederate markers and monuments and urges local officials to remove them.
“Our public entities should no longer play a role in distorting history by honoring a secessionist government that waged war against the United States to preserve white supremacy and the enslavement of millions of people,” reads a post about removing Confederate memorials on the SPLC’s website.
In several cases, the decision to remove Confederate memorials in Alabama was made in the wake of George Floyd’s death while being apprehended by Minneapolis police, and the ensuing wave of summer protests.
Three of the cases that garnered press attention were in some of Alabama’s most populous cities. The City of Birmingham removed a confederate memorial in Linn Park, the City of Mobile removed a statue of Confederate Admiral Raphael Semmes from a downtown location, and Madison County Commission removed a monument to Confederate soldiers from the grounds of a county courthouse in Huntsville.
Many of the other removals in Alabama were statues or markers on public ground in less populous counties. One was a renamed elementary school and five were removals and renamings at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The full list can be found here.
Alabama tied with Texas for third-most Confederate markers removed among all states. Virginia had the most with 71 removed followed by North Carolina with 24. The SPLC says 167 Confederate remembrances were removed in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Alabama’s 2017 Memorial Preservation Act punishes the removal or destruction of any historical item or location in Alabama with a one-time $25,000 fine.
Two legislative efforts have been introduced during the 2021 regular session regarding that law. State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham) wants to repeal the act while State Rep. Mike Holmes (R-Wetumpka) wants to change the punishment for local governments that violate the law to $10,000 per day.
Givan’s bill was referred to a subcommittee during a recent hearing while Holmes’ has not yet been taken up by the House Committee on State Government.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
