By Maggie Lee
Just as the calendar turned to Juneteenth, a jubilant audience watched and videoed the removal of a Confederate monument from Decatur’s town square.
Decatur and DeKalb’s governments and people have long since said they don’t want the 1908 monument to what white people then saw as a tragically “Lost Cause.” Protesters lately have made it the focal point of anger, criticism, shame, sorrow and sometimes vandalism. But state law seemed to protect it.
However, Decatur’s lawyers went to court June 10 on another argument: that the monument is a public nuisance — and that a catastrophe could happen if residents attempt to remove or destroy it.
A judge agreed, and down the monument came. It’s now in storage.
On Friday, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said the county will create some 25 new “inclusive” historical markers.
Thurmond, author of books on African-American history in Athens and in Georgia, said that the county needs an inclusive narrative of its history. People might not always like what they read, he said, but it must be based on fact.
