Florida Senate committee advances measure that would prevent Confederate statue removals

TALLAHASSEE — An effort to prevent the removal of Confederate Monuments advanced in the Florida Senate on Monday as cities like Jacksonville continue to fight over the statues.

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CBS reported that the Republican-controlled Government Oversight and Accountability Committee voted 4-2 along party lines to support SB 1122, which would prevent local governments from removing, relocating or destroying monuments.

“This is not a Confederate bill. It’s an American history bill,” Sen. Jonathan Martin, who filed the bill, said.

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Martin argues that monuments and memorials are necessary to teach people who don’t have time or money to take history in college.

Sen. Tracie Davis, however, feels differently. She said she voted against the bill because statues honoring the Confederacy aren’t about the Civil War but about “hate” during Reconstruction and “to degrade Black people.”

“This is a thinly veiled, targeted attack against my city and my constituents, especially people who look like me,” said Davis, who represents Jacksonville.

Read: After removal of Springfield Confederate monument, ‘Monuments and Memorials Protection Act’ filed

Action News Jax told you in December when Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan ordered the removal of the “Women of the Southland” monument that has sat in Springfield Park since 2015.

Denise Scott of Jacksonville told the committee that Confederate monuments “misrepresent history” and are a “painful reminder” of a racist past for many.

However, bill-supporter David McCallister of Hillsborough County and the Guardians of American History said the measure is about ending the erasure of history.

“Who speaks for the dead? The memorials are the silent speakers,” McCallister said.

Read: Final Confederate monument in Jacksonville comes down in Springfield Park

The bill would give the governor the power to suspend or remove local officials who violate prohibitions on moving or destroying monuments. In addition, people who approve the removal or destruction of monuments could face paying restoration costs, and the state would have the power to withhold arts, culture and historic preservation funding.

CBS reported that Martin filed a bill last legislative session that would give people to file lawsuits if they felt they had “lost history” or felt they couldn’t teach about the past due to monument removal, but it didn’t pass.

Read: Newly obtained memo raises question: Did Jacksonville mayor overstep in removing monument?

This year’s bill would be retroactive to Oct 1, 2020, and specifically mentions the protection of military personnel in “any armed conflict since settlers from other countries came to what is known as the United States.”

The retroactive date was chosen for when a Christopher Columbus statue was removed from the St. Petersburg Pier District.

CBS said that a House version of the bill (HB 395) would require a bronze sculpture of former Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith to be displayed in Lake County or anywhere else in the state if a suitable location hasn’t been found for it by July 1, 2025. The Senate version doesn’t include that requirement.

The House bill hasn’t been heard in committees.

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