Second of Two Confederate monuments being removed from Springfield Park, Jacksonville, FL 12-28-2023
On Wednesday, December 28th, 2023 one of the last Confederate monuments in Jacksonville, FL was removed. What makes this more signifcant than the other Confederate monument removals in the recent past is this one was not done in the pre-dawn hours hidden in the in the early morning cover of darkness. Mayor Deegan was clear on the reason for this removal, “this was not an attempt to erase history, but to learn from it.”
Three and a half years ago the main Confederate monument in jacksonville, FL that stood for more than a century in the downtown plaza known as Hemming Park was removed under the cover of darkness in the predawn hours of Tuesday, June 9th, 2020. There was so much vigorious debate about the monument’s removal it faced enough opposition requiring surrepititous action in the face of local GOP remonstations. Recently elected Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan felt no apprehension following through with this removal as it was done in broad daylight for all to see. Our Mayor was able to bypass city council approval [which would have required city government funds for removal] by using private funding from a grant via the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. George Floyd’s murder on May 5th, 2020 ignited debates across the country on Confederate monuments and the calls for their removal from publicly funded grounds which required taxpayer funds for upkeep. The calls for their removal continue unabated.
Mayor Deegan has been a ray of sunshine since her election in May, 2023 followed by her inauguration on June 1st, 2023. The previous eight years under GOP Trumpist Mayor Lenny Curry was like the dark ages. Preferred city funding for the upper economically privileged areas of our city and an out of control crime rate defines his legacy. We have a community activist organization here called ICARE, an interfaith group comprised of 38 Congregations dedicated to citywide justice and fairness. ICARE was continually ignored and dismissed by Mayor Curry whenever he was invited to attend or address the organization. Mayor Deegan has already reached out to ICARE and promises a working relationship toward the same aim of justice and fairness.
Jacksonville’s legacy reaches back to when Florida was a territory owned by Spain. It’s southern heritage has a history wrapped in the same heritage that can be found in the other states of the former Confederacy: public grounds dotted with Confederate memorials dedicated to the myth of the “lost cause.” The myth of a cause that was lost through unjustified might to overturn it. The two memorials removed by Mayor Deegan was funded by the United Confederate Veterans in 1915. Though the United Confederate Veterans was disbanded in 1951 the reason for the erection was clear: a reminder of Jim Crow laws and their dominance in the cultural heritage of the city and its minority population. This was also accomplished by naming high schools after Confederate generals. One high school was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Klu Klux Klan, as a grievance filled reaction fueled by the US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Mayor Deegan’s actions were welcomed by a large portion of the population. Calling her action a reminder we have learned a lesson of humanity from our city’s history and legacy is more than I expected. Though her predecessor Mayor Curry agreed to remove the rest of the memorials he seemed to have lost interest in following up on that promise with the ascension of Donald Trump.
I want to thank Mayor Deegan for this long awaited lesson in humanity that seems to be missing from local, state, and federal representatives of the GOP.
