Jefferson City advisory committees recommend removal and replacement of Confederate monument
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two Jefferson City advisory committees to the city council recommend removing and replacing a Confederate monument on Moreau Drive.
The Jefferson City Human Relations Commission and the Jefferson City Historic Preservation Commission made the recommendations Wednesday night.
A post on the human relations Facebook page said the monument and its "symbolic version of history has no place in our diverse and inclusive community." The commission agreed on its recommendation last month but sent a letter to the city council Wednesday night.
The letter from the human relations commission said the marker leaves context out of the Battle That Never Was and that it offers an inaccurate view of history.
Members of the historic preservation commission made their decision Wednesday night after hearing multiple speakers who were both for and against the monument's removal.
Mary Schantz who oversees the commission said former state representative Jay Barnes gathered research on the marker and presented it during the Wednesday meeting.
Barnes said the marker was originally placed at the corner of Moreau Drive and Hough Park Road on April 6, 1933, by a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The former state representative also recommended the monument be removed and replaced.
"Remove the United Daughters of Confederacy marker to Gen. Sterling Price as soon as possible. We can and should honor our city’s rich heritage, its true history," Barnes said in the document.
Schantz said those opposed to removing the plaque and rock didn't want to see history changed or denied.
The Daughters of the Confederacy said on its website recently some want "a memorial to our forefathers who fought bravely during four years of war."
Both commissions also recommended the city request input from citizens on how to commemorate the Civil War in the city.
It's unclear when the city council will decide what to do with the monument. Schantz said the city's administrative committee may hear the case before its brought to the full city council.
