Marshall said taking the historic monument down is in violation of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. As Andre McKoy, a black Birmingham resident who went to Linn Park Monday afternoon to show his support for the protest movement, put it: “Birmingham is 71% black but we’ve got a Confederate monument right downtown. He stopped short of having it removed because the state passed a law earlier that year aimed at keeping it and similarly fraught objects from being torn down. On Monday night, the city of Birmingham commenced the removal of one of Alabama’s most prominent physical memorials to its racist history. Birmingham, the crucible of America's long racial divide and the site of some of the most brutal examples of its enforcement, is now without its largest confederate memorial for the first time in over a century. But further down the street, more glass shattered. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has made good on his promise by ordering the removal of one of Alabama’s most prominent Confederate monuments. 1514856906 1590999392. The fate of the state seemed frozen in place until the events of the last week made the obelisk again a rallying point. The Confederate memorial was scarred from hundreds of hammer blows and defaced with scribblings in spray paint. Confederate army, their wives, and widows. Finding meaning in the ruins of coronavirus and Legos. When it happened, the shift in the crowd was something I felt before I saw. And behind them, they left the obelisk. RELATED: This is our history - how white supremacy still thrives in Alabama. For the last three years, the city and state have been in a legal battle over the monument in court, with state Attorney General Steve Marshall fighting to preserve it. Local reports noted the Confederate statue memorializing Charles Linn, captain of the Confederate Navy, in Birmingham was, in fact, torn down using … The amount of thought that went into this enterprise could be measured in feet — roughly 30 ft of rope to pull down a 50 ft. monument. City council members wanted Bell to tear the bleak statue down, but Bell sought to buy time and avoid attracting another hoard of neo-Confederates to Birmingham. A statue of Charles Linn, a blockade runner in the Confederate navy and an early Birmingham industrialist after whom the park is named, was an early casualty. All rights reserved (About Us). Johnson told the crowd they should give the mayor a chance to follow through on his promise, but as some in the crowd cussed and jeered at the idea, he said it was up to them if they wanted to keep trying. Following the removal of the Confederate monument in Birmingham's Linn Park Monday night, Attorney General Steve Marshall announced another lawsuit against the City Tuesday afternoon. Skip Navigation Share on Facebook The John Merrill Show is on again. (Video above: Confederate monument in Birmingham's Linn Park removed)In the new lawsuit, Marshall says removing a historic monument violates the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, which … All while, in the middle of it all, dozens of young men, and a few women, whacked at a sandstone obelisk. Hey, Georgia! The protesters looped one end of the rope about a third of the way up the obelisk and hitched the other end to the back of a red GMC pickup truck. Late last year, Birmingham lost the court fight, but the Alabama Supreme Court said then that the worst the state could do to Birmingham was a $25,000 fine. A short while later, colleagues of mine were assaulted in front of the Alabama Power building. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has demanded that the city of Birmingham pay a $25,000 fine for removing a Confederate statue in violation of … Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Others yelled at them to stop. © 2021 Advance Local Media LLC. Photo via Matthew Niblett for Bham Now On Monday night, June 1, the city of Birmingham began to dismantle the Confederate monument in Linn Park. There’s no other word to describe what happened and still be honest. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. But with that flame at Jefferson’s feet, there had been an escalation. The monument was dismantled and removed in 2020. In front of the Harbert Center, someone set fire to a flag. It remained in place as Bull Connor, likely the most infamous and reviled police chief in American history, ordered his men to sic snarling dogs on nonviolent protesters in Kelly Ingram Park, a few short blocks away. By the end of the night, it would be a riot. For more than a century, a 52-foot obelisk has stood in the center of Birmingham, Ala., a monument to Confederate soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War.. I can’t tell you where it all started. Someone had set a fire at the statue’s feet. About halfway there, I saw the orange light reflecting off the county courthouse wall. I spoke with a few people I knew. As the sun set, more people trickled into the park. And it didn't come down all through the Occupy protests nearly a decade ago and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations of more recent years. Or slavery. It’s not right. The base of the Confederate monument in Linn Park. Before I reached the grocery store Sunday night my wife called to say I should probably go to Linn Park instead. The 52-foot-tall Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument towered over historic Linn Park for 115 years. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (each updated 1/1/21). Confederate monument in Linn Park after being defaced by protesters. On Monday, crews went … Tom Gordon, BirminghamWatch. Several dozen linked arms along the Park Place sidewalk in front of the Confederate monument, but hundreds of others began marching southward down 20th Street and through the heart of the city’s business district. Instead, their two attempts ended with two broken ropes. Birmingham's 1905 Confederate monument coming down. Confederate Memorial Barrier Illegal, Alabama Supreme Court Says - Birmingham, AL - A barrier around a Confederate monument in Birmingham's Linn Park has been ruled illegal by … Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. The cohesion of the crowd was suddenly gone. The majority of veterans served in Alabama outfits, while others moved to Alabama after the war. Someone shouted that they were going to Five Points, but the mass of people began to fracture a block or two away from the park and take detours down the city’s east/west avenues. © 2021 Advance Local Media LLC. "It started with Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, but George Floyd is the breaking point.". Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group. A statue of Charles Linn, a blockade runner in the Confederate navy and an early Birmingham industrialist after whom the park is named, was an early casualty. One of my colleagues, Shauna Stuart, was live-streaming an impassioned speech in Linn Park by Jermaine “Funnymaine” Johnson. Source: Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has vowed to remove a controversial Confederate monument from Linn Park “as soon as possible.”. The obelisk was there through the entire tenure of Gov. On Sunday, the obelisk — known formally as the Confederate Sailors and Soldiers Monument — was the site of a speech from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, who … The death of George Floyd, who was killed on video last month by a police officer in Minneapolis, shocked the nation and drove many thousands of Americans into streets from Alabama to Alaska. I moved with them. Some booed him while others chanted, “Stand with us!”. The monument’s base had been placed in 1894, the same year in which the Newsletter July 2015 Photograph, 1905. But I can tell you where it turned — the fire someone set at Thomas Jefferson’s feet. Protestors attempted to topple a century-old Confederate monument in Linn Park Sunday night before rioting in downtown Birmingham. As of 24 June 2020 , there are at least 122 public spaces with Confederate monuments in Alabama. You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. Robert Walker poses for a photograph on the remains of a Confederate memorial that was removed overnight in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. You could say that it started with the Civil War. George Wallace, who personified state-sanctioned racism in the U.S. But it is just the latest in a series of injustices that black people in Alabama and beyond are no longer willing to put up with, according to Mia Speights, a black Birmingham resident who came out to the park on Monday to show her support for the cause. And on Instagram. When will Alabama? This was not a new demand, either, and Johnson was not the first person to make it. He asked the protesters to go home and give him a day to tear that statue down instead. The time to expand Medicaid is now. The City of Mobile joined Birmingham in taking down Confederate monuments, and when the City of Huntsville announced its intentions to do the … A few strangers who knew my work said hello to me. Graffiti is show on the damaged base of a Confederate memorial that was removed overnight in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. All rights reserved (About Us). "I've been saying there was going to be a breaking point with police brutality," she said. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin defeated Bell in an election that fall, and he inherited the conundrum from his predecessor, just in time for the Alabama Legislature to pass a monuments law protecting the statue. Remember when Alabama lawmakers said porn was a public health emergency? Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall filed an anticipated lawsuit against the city of Birmingham over the city's removal of a Confederate monument. The plywood was placed there on orders of former Birmingham Mayor William Bell after the state passed the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act in 2017 in response to calls for removal of Confederate monuments on public property. Two doughboy statues on either side of the Confederate monument were targets later. Somebody change the channel. But this night, Johnson pointed to that obelisk in the park and said it had to come down. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Attorney General Steve Marshall has filed a new lawsuit against the City of Birmingham for its removal of the Confederate monument in Linn Park. I crossed paths with coworkers and colleagues from other media. Two doughboy statues … Between the attempts, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin walked into the middle of the crowd, which had then grown by hundreds, with a bullhorn. Marshall said taking the historic monument down is in violation of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld a state law barring cities from moving or altering Confederate monuments.Justices on Wednesday reversed a circuit judge’s ruling that declared the law unenforceable because it violates the free speech rights of local communities.PDF: Alabama Supreme Court rulingCourt records show the state of Alabama has imposed a $25,000 fine on the City of Birmingham. During his visit for the Olmsted Brothers' 1925 report and recommendations for "A Park System for Birmingham" landscape architect W. B. Marquis wrote that "The Confederate Monument located on the axis of 20th St. at the so… If this town was 71% Jewish, we wouldn’t have a statue of Adolf Hitler.”. by Jessica Leigh Hester June 5, 2020 How an Infamous Confederate Obelisk Finally Came Down Had they been successful, the monument would have crushed the truck and likely killed or injured bystanders. Shortly after that, someone found the statue of Thomas Jefferson. Our governor is better than your governor. 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