Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors makes decision on Confederate monument

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - After a push to get the Confederate statue in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse moved, the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Monday to keep it there. The courthouse will become the Lauderdale County Government Archives and History Museum once the new county government complex on 22nd Avenue is complete.

“We’re not taking the monument with us to the new courthouse, so I mean, I think it’s a fitting place,” said board president Kyle Rutledge. “There is a lot of prayer and thought that went into the best move that we could follow under the law because the monuments are protected under state statute and we’re limited on what we can do. I think with that being our Archives and History Museum, I think it’s a fitting place.”

N’spire Walker, the president of Dream Team of the South, says she is not happy with the resolution and would still like to see the statue be moved elsewhere.

“We have the Rose Hill Cemetery here, where they have different Confederates already there and they already do tours there. Why can’t it be moved there? It’s put in a place now where no tourists will come here to see it,” Walker says. “Why not put it in a place where you have tourists? It could possibly bring more tourism, which means more dollars, and in place of [the monument], we could have something else like a big mural or something that could even bring more tourists.”

Walker says she encourages supporters of the monument’s removal to use their power of voting to make change.

“Where it is coming into play now, we need to use the power of our vote, and make sure that the board represents more of us versus just a majority of one color or the other,” Walker says. “We need to have more of us, or more Blacks, be a part of the board, or people at least that will be willing to listen and consider all people.”

The new Lauderdale County Government Complex will be located at the site of the old Village Fair Mall.

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