Georgia county takes down Confederate monument that was erected in 1993

A Confederate monument that was erected outside a local courthouse in Gwinnett County, Ga., in 1993 was recently taken down.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the statue, which previously stood outside the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville, was removed late Thursday. 

The removal comes after Gwinnett County commissioners decided to have the monument placed in storage last month amid an ongoing legal challenge and after local incidents of vandalism, the newspaper reported. 

A resolution the local body passed at the time indicated that not taking down the monument could “result in additional acts of vandalism and create a public safety concern for the City of Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County.” 

The monument depicts a Confederate soldier along with the years the Civil War took place and the words “LEST WE FORGET.”

Also, not the biggest issue, but they carved a typo in a monument https://t.co/AdXky4GjMl

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) February 8, 2021

The monument is one of a number that have been taken down by local officials or toppled by protesters across the country in the past year amid a renewed push to get rid of symbols of the pro-slavery cause following the police killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans.

Commissioner Kirkland Carden told the Gwinnett Daily Post in a statement that it felt “good” to see the Confederate marker come down. 

The local county commissioner, who had reportedly pushed for the monument’s removal during his campaign, said the recent move was “a long time coming, and it does feel good to follow through on a campaign promise that was important to so many Gwinnettians.” 

“You know we started this petition on Juneteenth [June 19] of 2020,” he said. “Fast-forward, here we are now, so I think this is a good start to build a better tomorrow, which was my campaign slogan.”

The move was also cheered by state Rep. Shelly Hutchinson (D), who called the removal “sweet on so many levels” in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I feel more like a Gwinnettian today than I did yesterday,” she said while also noting that the monument was erected in the same town square where Charles Hale, a Black man, had been lynched more than a century ago.