Wayne County NAACP asks for the removal of Confederate monument

WAYNESBORO, Miss. (WDAM) - The Wayne County Board of Supervisors met on Monday and one item on the agenda was the consideration of a request by the Wayne County NAACP for the removal of the Confederate monument located in downtown Waynesboro.

During the meeting, residents from the area spoke about their wish for the monument to remain where it is currently located while others spoke about having it moved to a new location.

The monument was erected in 1911 by the Lundy Gunn Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and moving it would require the county to seek funding for its removal and relocation.

Karl Rogers with the Wayne County NAACP says he’s representing a large group of residents that would like to see it relocated in order to move the county forward.

“I speak on behalf of larger groups that wanted to come and protest and do other things, I said allow me as a single person, or the other people that were with me last time, to try to talk to our Board and get some reasoning so that we don’t cause chaos,” said Rogers. " I don’t want chaos. I just want change, and I just want things to be better for all people of the citizens of Wayne County.”

Forrest Daws, also a Wayne County resident and a history teacher, says the monument isn’t about racism, but rather honoring men from the county that were killed and never given a proper burial.

“During 1861, approximately 900 men from Wayne County, which was virtually every male in the county, fought for the Confederate States of America, including a few African Americans,” Daws said. “That monument is meant to promote their memory and often times serve as a headstone, because a lot of those men never made it home and had no official burial or headstones.”

The Board of Supervisors adjourned Monday’s meeting with no motion to act at this time.