On the morning of June 18th, 2020 the citizens of Decatur, Georgia woke up to find a piece of their history missing. The 30 foot stone obelisk, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 was placed in front of the Decatur Courthouse Square to commemorate the fallen soldiers and sailors of the Confederacy. On June 10th a petition was filed by the Decatur City Attorney requesting the removal of the Confederate Monument on the Decatur Courthouse Square. Two days later, without an opportunity for anyone to file an intervention or even be heard, Judge Clarence Seeliger issued an order to remove the statue.
Seeliger was quoted as saying that the century-old monument was a “public nuisance” upon requesting its removal.
Martin O’Toole, a spokesperson for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), opposes these actions by Judge Seeliger and believes, “that the monument is an important and significant memorial to the Confederate Veterans.”
Georgia law defines a “public nuisance” as something that is damaging to all persons. Those who reject the decision to remove the monument feel that the judge did not have definitive proof that the monument was indeed a public nuisance. They admit that while it may be offensive to some, it does not offend “all persons.”
The Sons of Confederate Veterans have actively filed suits against cities and counties who they feel have broken the rules laid out by Georgia’s Monument Protection Law. The SCV is now returning to other locations where they feel that monuments have been illegally removed. Their aim is to have similarly removed memorials restored to their original locations. The scenario in DeKalb and Decatur has been cited in several places as an attempt to redefine history, and the SCV and their supporters hope this lawsuit will “expose the falsity of these claims.”
The SCV intends to send a message throughout the state and country to those who are “vindicating our laws” by returning the obelisk to its original location on the Decatur Courthouse Square. Martin O’Toole believes that if the SCV and its followers can be victorious, it would set a precedent for other legal battles over the removal of Confederate monuments across the state. He says that, “we think that this monument fight here and Decatur and DeKalb is significant, because if we win here, then we will send a message across the entire state of Georgia.”
The activists in support of the removal felt that there was more than enough support in the community to get rid of the monument permanently. Fonta High, the co-chair of the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights says that, “There was enough outrage and enough threat to people’s safety that the judge made the right decision that was in the best interest of the overall community.”
High claims that she is not shocked about the ongoing efforts to bring the monument back to the square. She continues saying, “Honestly, it’s what I anticipated, given the current environment with what’s happening in the state of Georgia, what’s happening in education with the fight with critical race theory, it’s just not at all surprising.”
Bryan Downs, the city attorney who is named in the lawsuit, claimed that the lawsuit was “meritless,” and “the petition they have now filed is factually incorrect, legally flawed, and procedurally deficient.”
In addition to the efforts to bring back “wrongfully” removed monuments, there is also an ongoing discussion about removing another monument located in the park that recognizes the Creek War of 1836. The monument was placed there by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to memorialize the expulsion of indigenous people following the Creek War.
O’Toole claims that he “vows to do everything in his power for that one to remain in Decatur as well.”
The original obelisk, which used to be on the Decatur Courthouse Square, is currently being stored in an undisclosed location. The supporters of the obelisk’s return and their representatives have made it clear that they intend to send a message to those who are attempting to have these Confederate monuments removed from public places.
Charles Clay is an InsiderAdvantage/James Magazine Summer intern who is a senior at the Grady College School of Journalism & Mass Communications at UGA
