Nearly 30 Confederate monuments have been protected in the US as anti-racism activists call for them to be dismantled
Since the end of May, approximately 60 confederate statues have come down, according to an NPR report.
But in 28 jurisdictions in numerous states across the US, leaders have voted or otherwise decided to protect certain monuments dedicated to the Confederacy.
Calls to topple or relocate monuments to Confederate soldiers were reignited following anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests that erupted across the US in May following the police killing of George Floyd.
Since the end of May, more than 60 Confederate symbols in US cities have come down, but officials in several US states have voted or otherwise decided to protect 28 Confederate monuments in the wake of protests, according to a Tuesday report from NPR.
Local leaders have voted to or otherwise ordered these monuments protected in a number of states, according to NPR, including Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has kept track of the removal of these monuments, previously detailed the existing number of monuments dedicated to the Confederacy in the US. According to a September 15 update to its previous report, the SPLC found that 1,800 Confederate symbols remained on public land, with just under 700 of them being monuments.
On May 25, police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killed 46-year-old George Floyd in a moment that was captured on video. Floyd's death sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and racism in the US. Among calls to reform or defund US police forces, protesters have also called for dismantling monuments or statues dedicated to individuals associated with racism.
As Business Insider's Madison Hoff previously reported, many Confederate memorials were created decades after the Civil War. Many were erected during the period of Jim Crow laws and codified racial segregation in the US. But as NPR reported on Tuesday, some cities and towns in the US have resisted calls to dismantle — or even relocate — their monuments. These calls have been amplified in light of instances of violence, including in 2017 after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"I was disappointed, but I wasn't surprised at the fact that the statue is still standing in this good ole boy city of Marshall, Texas," Demetria McFarland, a fifth-grade teacher leading a so-far failed effort to relocate a Confederate monument in the town, told NPR. "So, it's like they're telling us that they don't care about how we feel."
Since the end of May, 60 monuments have come down, 10 have been relocated, and 19 spaces have been renamed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Nearly 150 total symbols have been removed from public spaces since nine Black Americans were killed in a 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Some GOP lawmakers have also publicly opposed the targeting of statues and monuments, claiming that doing so is an attempt to ignore or edit US history. President Donald Trump, for example, has repeatedly opposed the removal of monuments to the Confederacy and the renaming of military bases currently named for Confederate soldiers.
"My Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations," Trump said in a July tweet. "Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!"
In September, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed legislation that, among other changes aimed at protesters, would increase penalties for individuals involved in toppling a monument during a protest.
Read more:
Read the original article on Insider
