The county voted to move this statue last week.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 9, 2021 | The United States is a nation governed by law. Whims, usurpations, uprising and power-by-taking are not part of the American way of life. We are a republic organized under democratic principles.
While it is the power of the people that rule, this comes about through the people systematically voting in regular elections to choose their leaders.
The very act of Congress or Georgia’s Legislature meeting in a routine session is how we govern. And this week’s gathering of the U.S. Senate to determine whether President Trump should be found guilty in the impeachment trial is another, though unusual, example of the rule of law.
Another example of the rule of law took place last week in Gwinnett County, when the county commission voted to remove the Confederate monument from the grounds of the Historic Courthouse. They placed it in storage pending the outcome of legal action. Their concern was the possibility of more vandalism on the statue, and for the concern of public safety.
However, in this day and age, Confederate statues are appalling to many in Gwinnett, one of the state’s most diverse counties. We can understand why this symbol may upset some residents. Its removal seems to us justified.
Their action is another example of the rule by law. We didn’t see vandals trying to remove the statue without legal precedent. Instead, the county commission acted in what it conceives to be the best interest of the county through peaceful means.
This statue in Hamilton, Ga., looks like one in Macon, Ga. Image via Wikipedia.
The Gwinnett Confederate memorial was unusual in that it had not been erected very long. It only was placed in 1993 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Currently the Georgia Legislature is also bringing up the topic of Confederate statues in other cities throughout the state. It is a fitting subject for modern Georgia.
However, we hope some compromise can be established on the future of Stone Mountain Park. Removing that giant carving on the face of the mountain would feel similar to the Taliban destruction of monuments in Afghanistan. These monuments are part of all our history, of a nation governed by law.
THERE ARE MANY CIVIL WAR and Confederate monuments throughout our nation, located in 31 states, not just in 11 former Confederate states. The vast majority of the monuments were erected between 1890-1950, the era of Jim Crow segregation.
Now here’s an interesting part: many of the South’s monuments turn out to be identical to the statues of Union soldiers that decorate hundreds of public spaces across the North. Identical, but for one detail: on the soldier’s belt buckle, the “U.S.” is replaced by a “C.S.” for “Confederate States.”
In Bridgeport, Conn., the Monumental Bronze Company was a key player in this statue business. You could purchase for $450 a life-sized model statue built from zinc, commemorating this cause. If you wanted a “jumbo” model, it would cost $750. And this was modern one-stop shopping, since the firm would ship it to your town prefabricated, and send someone to your town to erect the monument.
Now we know why that statue in downtown Macon, for instance, looks similar to other Confederate statues in Georgia. After all, they mostly come from the same company in Connecticut.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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