Morgan O’Neal
Oxford community members marched around the Lafayette County Courthouse lawn at 4 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 24 calling for the removal of the Confederate statue that stands there.
The crowd gathered in front of the monument carrying signs with statements including “Love your neighbor. Move the statue.” and “Make Oxford welcoming for all.”
Andrea Walker, a nurse, former teacher and 37-year resident of Lafayette County, was among those walking around the courthouse chanting “Take it down.”
“Having this (monument) still placed here at the courthouse is holding on to a relic of our history that we don’t need to honor in this way, in this prominent place,” Walker said. “I don’t feel like Mississippi can cling to these old relics and move on to be a state that is progressive.”
In July, the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to reject a proposal to relocate the Confederate monument. On Tuesday Oct. 20, Mayor Robyn Tannehill announced that the Board of Aldermen will not entertain further discussion about ownership of the land that the monument sits on unless the County Board of Supervisors reconsiders their decision not to discuss the property issue.
Jonathan Kent Adams, a university alumnus from the Class of 2015, said the Confederate monument should be treated as a memorial and taken to a cemetery, not celebrated in the heart of Oxford. Until a relocation occurs, Adams said peaceful protests will continue to demand “a Square for everyone.”
“I don’t think we need to celebrate the Confederacy right in the center of our town,” he said. “As a white person, I don’t want this here because it offends my neighbors and also offends me.”
A petition on Change.org to remove the monument has 13,625 signatures.
