Letter – Statue should be removed
Published 5:13 pm Thursday, August 27, 2020
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To The Editor:
The statue in front of Lunenburg County Courthouse should be removed. It is a
representation of the Confederacy. The courthouse is county property that all
use. Community property should be free of reminders of racial injustice.
- Confederate statues were erected and placed in the era of the Jim
Crow laws. It was pursued nationwide to remind and intimidate negroes only, remind to stay in your place. When that was not heeded, the KKK would pay them a visit. Burn a cross in the yard.
- The Confederate war was an act of treason against the United States. The Confederacy, the South wanted to keep their slaves. They needed slaves to work for free. Their way of life would not be anymore. They beat, tortured, raped and separated entire families for many generations.
- Robert E. Lee surrendered. The South did not.
- President Lincoln freed the slaves. Slavery continued in the Deep South. Union troops had to be sent in to enforce the release of all slaves, June 19.
That is what that statue represents to Black Lunenburg County residents. Always reminded to stay in your place. I lived during the unrest of the 60s. The replay
will not be the same for 2020. Putting a racially fraught issue to the public vote will cause havoc at the polls and in the community for a long time.
Remove the statue from the courthouse grounds. Place it where persons wish to view can. Not on county property.
Call your supervisors and give them your vote today. It is their job to handle county business.
Deborah H. Smith
Victoria