Page 8 The Skanner June 14, 2017
News
Arizona Leaders Call For Removal Of Confederate Monuments
State includes six monuments to Confederate soldiers – most erected within the last 20 years
By Floyd Alvin Galloway
Arizona Informant/
NNPA Member
The Arizona Confed-
erate monuments con-
troversy has risen once
again. Two years ago, it
was over the naming of
the Jefferson Davis High-
way in the Southeast Val-
ley. Other cities across
the country in Louisiana,
Texas, Tennessee, and
Maryland have or are in
the process of removing
Confederate monuments
from prominent public
lands.
“
There are six monu-
ments around the state
honoring Confederate
soldiers, who died in
the Civil War including
one at the State Capitol’s
Wesley Bolin Plaza and
Arizona
Confederate
Veterans Monument in
Greenwood
Memory
Lawn Cemetery in Phoe-
nix, erected in 1999 by
the Sons of Confederate
Veterans.
Other locations include
the Memorial Cemetery
area of the Southern Ar-
izona Veterans’ Ceme-
tery in Sierra Vista. The
This is a slap in the face of all
Americans, as those who se-
ceded, were at that time seced-
ing from the Union, they be-
came traitors to our country
Metro-Phoenix Black
leaders held a news con-
ference at the Arizona
Informant office June 5
to call on Arizona Gov-
ernor Doug Ducey (R) to
remove monuments hon-
oring those who were at
war with the country and
pushed to protect slavery
and hate.
monument was erected
in 2010 to honor the 21
soldiers interred in that
cemetery who served in
the Confederate Army
during the Civil War and
later fought in Indian
wars in Arizona as mem-
bers of the U.S. Army; a
road named the Jeffer-
son Davis Highway in
the far East Valley near
Apache Junction, Pica-
cho Peak, known as the
western-most battle in
the Civil War; and a mon-
ument at the four graves
of the only Confederate
soldiers killed in action,
by Native Americans
in Arizona, Dragoon
Springs stagecoach sta-
tion east of Tucson.
“The confederacy in
their articles of succes-
sion, wrote that they are
protecting states rights;
states rights to protect
the peculiar institution
of slavery,” explained
Rev. Reginald Walton,
the pastor of Phil-
lips Memorial CME
Church and president
of Black Lives Matter
of Greater Phoenix.
The monuments are
a tool of terror, the
Black leaders stated.
“This is a slap in the
face of all Americans,
as those who seceded,
were at that time seced-
ing from the Union, they
became traitors to our
country. To have monu-
ments on state land hon-
oring this institution of
slavery is honoring ter-
rorism,” noted Rev. Wal-
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East Valley NAACP President Roy Tatem addresses the media as Dr. Ann Hart, the president of the Maricopa
County branch of the NAACP, Rev. Reginald Walton, the president of Black Lives Matter of Greater Phoenix
and State Rep. Reginald Bolding (D-Ariz.) stand in support. (Alvin Galloway/Arizona Informant)
ton.
Rep. Reginald Bolding,
who represents District
27, read a letter he sent to
the Gov. Ducey, encour-
aging the governor and
the Arizona State Board
of Geographic Names
and State Legislature,
to put words into action
this time.
Two years ago, Rep.
Bolding sent a request
to Gov. Ducey asking the
governor to take action
and strike the name of
Jefferson Davis Memo-
rial Highway from the
portion of U.S. 60 in the
east valley, following
the horrific murder of
nine Black church wor-
shippers at the historic
Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston, S.C., by white
supremacist Dylan Roof,
who used the confeder-
ate symbols and ideology
as a justification for the
killing spree.
“Today, I call on you,
again, to stand on the
right side of American
history,” said Bolding,
sending a direct message
to Gov. Ducey.
Bolding asked for im-
mediate action on this
issue.
Cloves Campbell Jr.,
co-publisher of the Ar-
izona Informant, said
that, the biggest issue
discussed at the press
conference was doing
what’s right.
“This issue of having
monuments and me-
morializing things that
are against everything
and principals the Unit-
ed States constitution
stands for is something
we don’t need to remind-
ed of,” said Campbell.
“Let’s not honor some-
thing that is wrong. Hav-
ing these monuments are
a slap in the face of not
just African Americans,
but every Arizonan.”
“For many African
Americans, the symbol
of the confederate flag is
a symbol of racial terror-
ism,” said Dr. Ann Hart,
president of the Marico-
pa County branch of the
NAACP.
She said the flag and
monuments are a symbol
of resistance to the civil
rights of Black people.
“[The
confederate
flag] represents years of
lynching, Jim Crow and
Black suffering.”
Symbols honoring the
Civil War-era confedera-
cy should not be on land
paid for by state taxes,
Hart added.
“The NAACP vehe-
mently opposes any con-
federate monuments on
public property,” said
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Roy Tatem Jr., the pres-
ident of the East Valley
branch of the NAACP.
“We call on Gov. Ducey
to take immediate ac-
tion. We do not tolerate
him passing the buck to
a board that he appoints,
to a board he has influ-
ence over.”
The group says that the
governor needs to show
leadership on this issue.
The leaders said they
want to know exactly
how the governor feels
on this issue.
The civil rights and
community
leaders
asked: “Does Governor
Ducey support the idea
of a terrorist group and
its symbols, the Confed-
erate Army, and its de-
fense of slavery and hate
on public land?”
Tatem called on Gov.
Ducey to be a leader in
the community and rep-
resent all Arizonans and
not just a specific group,
like the Daughters of the
Confederacy.
Tatem
continued:
“These monuments are
not only offensive to the
descendants of African
slaves, they are offensive
to any American who
celebrates the principles
of liberty and justice on
which our nation was
founded.”
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