Nearly a year after voting for the removal of the Confederate statue on the Washington County Courthouse grounds, the Washington County Board of Supervisors found itself revisiting the matter once again as the statue remains erect.
This time, however, the BOS is seeking actionable results.
During their regular Monday meeting, the BOS voted 4 to 1 to authorize the board attorney to take legal action to challenge the constitutionality of a state statute that prevents the county from removing property owned by it, such as the Confederate statue.
On June 15, 2020, the BOS voted 4 to 1 to work with the Greenville Historic Preservation committee in the relocation of the Confederate statue on the Washington County Courthouse grounds to another county site at the expense of the county.
District 1 Supervisor Lee Gordon voted in opposition to the motion in both instances.
Chairman of the Historic Preservation Camille Collins came before the BOS to respond to inquiries from the BOS.
She informed that since last discussing the matter of the statue with the BOS, the Confederate Cemetery “does not care to be an option.”
“We’ve talked about the legalities involved several times,” BOS president Carl McGee said to fellow board members, “I’m going to ask the board if it wants to go ahead with county resources to remove the statue from the courthouse.”
Some BOS members were under the assumption the matter had already been voted upon.
BOS attorney Willie Griffin reminded that the actual decision voted upon was to authorize the statue to be transported to the Confederate Cemetery which is no longer an option.
“The statute says you can move it to another suitable location on county property without a problem. However, if, as McGee proposes to remove it from county responsibilities, then in that event you have to challenge that statute,” he explained. “I feel confident saying the statute can be legally challenged because the statute is essentially telling you what to do with your own property.”
The consideration for removal came after a letter submitted by Mayor Errick Simmons to the BOS requesting the removal of the Confederate statue on the grounds of the Washington County Courthouse back in June 2020.
“As you know, racism in America is real,” Simmons asserted in his letter, “we have to face it and address it head on. It exists in Washington County. It exists in the Mississippi Delta...I firmly believe that it continues to exist because of people, systems and symbols.”
