Rankin County residents packed Brandon City Hall to discuss whether a Confederate statue belongs in the Mississippi town’s center where a bulk of local traffic flows. While some officials cited traffic as a reason to move the statue, dozens of speakers at the meeting on Monday took stances on whether the monument represents heritage or hate.
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— Rankin County residents packed Brandon City Hall to discuss whether a Confederate statue belongs in the Mississippi town’s center where a bulk of local traffic flows. But most took stances on whether it represents heritage or hate. “It’s hatred,” Janie Mclaurin-Wheaton said at the meeting Monday. “You want to leave ‘that’ history, but you want to take mine out of the school? What about my history? I was born here, too.” Mclaurin-Wheaton, who is Black, was a member of the first graduating class to integrate Brandon High School and was referring to a new law that seeks to restrict teachers from discussing “divisive” concepts like slavery and the causes of the Civil War. Her grandfather was the first Black man in Rankin County to own land and a car. She was one of the first Black women hired in the Rankin County Tax Assessor’s office, where she worked for 27 years. She joined some 80 neighbors — Black and white– with deep roots in the city and county to speak before the Brandon Board of Aldermen. Dozens crowded into chairs before the first speaker approached the podium at 6 p.m. City hall employees were forced to unfold extra chairs in the hallway when space ran out.Noteworthy and influential people who’ve died this year This discussion follows a June 16 meeting, during which Brandon city leaders approved a first step to assess the cost and logistics of relocating the 37-foot-tall statue of an unknown soldier built in 1907. Mayor Butch Lee cast the tie-breaking vote. In an interview with WAPT, Lee said the statue is “in harm’s way.” He cited three cars that have recently struck it as well as a recent incident in which it was shot at. Few locals cited the traffic concern as a top priority. Lee and the board drew condemnation from audience members who questioned why the decision wasn’t left to the voters. A favored candidate for the relocation is the Confederate part of the Brandon cemetery – a location some feel could hold and preserve the historical monument without glorifying a difficult part of American history. “There could not be a more serene, more dignified place to address this history than Brandon’s cemetery,” said Lance Stevens, an attorney and 30-year Brandon resident. Bettye Ward Fletcher, a Black Rankin County native, called for the city to move the statue she sees as a harmful symbol. “It continues to be painful,” she said. “Your hometown continues to honor the men that fought to maintain you and your people in slavery.” “I want something different for my grandkids,” said Will Sims, a Black U.S. Air Force veteran who expressed disappointment with seeing the monument still standing when he returned from years in the service.Former longtime Rankin County Assistant District Attorney Dan Duggan pulled out a portrait of his great-great grandfather, a Confederate soldier, for the board to see. The fifth-generation Southerner said removing the monument would be a betrayal to the memory of his ancestors and other soldiers. “This is a memorial to soldiers who left their homes to defend their country, the Confederate States of America, against an invading force,” said Mark Allen, a longtime resident of Rankin County and descendant of a Confederate soldier. Brandon’s Confederate monument was erected across from the courthouse where Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman ordered his Union troops to stack their arms as a sign of military occupation of the town, according to the National Register of Historic Places. In February 1864, Sherman largely burned Brandon as part of what modern historians call a practice run for his famous March to the Sea, in which he employed “total war” that burned and pillaged everything in his army’s path. “It’s a place that people could go to that’s maybe the only representation that they had of their relative who had never come home,” said Allen. However, some argued that the statue is a symbol of white power rather than a memorial to fallen ancestors. It was erected 42 years after the end of the Civil War, at a time when white Mississippians worked to ensure the marginalization of Black residents. In 1890, the Mississippi constitution enshrined the disenfranchisement of Black residents into law. By 1900, virtually no Black residents could vote despite constituting 59% of the population. John Toney, a local attorney, brought up that Brandon spent $3,000 – what would amount to $105,000 today – on the statue. “They used these monuments to start a political and cultural dialogue,” Toney said. “On the north side of the statue is carved into the marble: state’s rights and home rule will rise again. That’s not a dog whistle, that’s a training whistle.”Despite its complicated past, some claimed the historical monument should be preserved. “It’s our history. Whether it’s bad or good, let’s not try to second guess it,” said Sharon Neely Egan, a white resident who opposes the removal of the statue. “I don’t think we need to erase Brandon’s history.” Still, many feel that leaving a monument built as a homage to the Confederacy in one of Brandon’s busiest streets is siding with a skewed version of history, and disregarding the pain it evokes to Black residents. “Our past is important, but there’s a difference between remembering and honoring,” said Brandon Middle School principal Trey Rein. “We have an opportunity here to make a statement that we are focused on our town’s future more than its past.” The rain let up just after 7 p.m. as speakers and spectators exited city hall for their cars and homes. Mclaurin-Wheaton departed with some of her classmates from Brandon High School. They are still good friends today. “I just see some people stuck in the past and don’t know how to move forward,” Mclaurin-Wheaton said. “That’s because mama told you, daddy told you, sister told you, but when you become of age, you got to learn to do the right thing for yourself.”Trump caught off guard by Pentagon’s abrupt move to pause Ukraine weapons deliveries, AP sources sayTexas inspectors approved Camp Mystic’s disaster plan 2 days before deadly flood, records show
Black Experience General News MS State Wire William Tecumseh Sherman Race And Ethnicity John Toney U.S. News Janie Mclaurin-Wheaton Dan Duggan Will Sims Dogs Sharon Neely Egan Politics Mark Allen Lance Stevens U.S. News
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