Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Residents and NAACP Press Gaston County Commissioners to Move Confederate Monument; Others Urge It Remain
Loading...
Summary
During a lengthy public-comment period at the Gaston County Board of Commissioners work session, NAACP leaders and other residents urged moving the Confederate soldiers' monument to a museum for context, while descendants and veterans called it a memorial and cited an appeals-court ruling protecting its placement.
A broad cross-section of Gaston County residents used a two-minute public-comment slot at the April 14 Gaston County Board of Commissioners work session to renew calls over the Confederate soldiers' monument on the courthouse lawn.
Diana Graham, vice president of the Gastonia NAACP Branch 5394 B, said the monument creates an appearance that not all residents are welcome and urged the county to relocate the statue to a museum where it can be contextualized. "If justice is truly blind, why does a symbol of the Confederacy stand at the entrance of our courthouse?" Graham asked.
Sean Bates, president of the Gastonia NAACP, told commissioners the organization is not asking residents to be divisive but to consider the experiences of all citizens. "We want you to think about all the citizens in this county and realize that we all deserve to be seen, heard and treated equal," Bates said.
Speakers on the opposing side, including multiple descendants of Confederate soldiers, said the monument is a memorial to local veterans and that state law and a recent appeals-court ruling limit the county's ability to remove it. Charles Roseberry, a lifelong resident and Marine Corps veteran, cited the appeals court's findings on standing and asked the board to "continue to follow state law." Billy Starnes, who said he is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, argued the monument honors the county's fallen and should remain in place.
Several speakers referenced the appeals court decision and state law during their remarks; others urged the board to transfer the memorial to the Gaston County Museum of Art and History so it can be shown with historical context.
Chair Chad Brown told the public earlier in the meeting that the board would not add the Confederate-monument matter as an extra agenda item unless four members requested it. The session produced no formal board action on the monument; commissioners listened to public comment and did not take a vote to relocate or remove the statue.
The next formal step on any county action would be a voting meeting; no relocation motion or vote was made during the work session.
