Pensacola Council To Discuss Confederate Monument, Lee Square. Here’s How To Provide Input.

July 10, 2020

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On Tuesday July 14, 2020, the Pensacola City Council will hold a special meeting regarding the Confederate Monument located at Lee Square as well as the renaming of Lee Square.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. with all public participation taking place remotely. The meeting will be live streamed at cityofpensacola.com/video.

The city provided the following information on how the public can take part:

There are several options to provide comments and participate in the meeting:

Speak during the meeting: Those wishing to participate can access the request to speak form here at https://www.cityofpensacola.com/ccinput, submissions will be accepted from 12:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on July 14th . Those requesting to speak will then be called via the telephone number they provide; in the order the requests are received. You are asked to state your name and address for the record, and you will have two minutes to speak.

Send an email to City Council: Another option is to express your thoughts and have your voice be heard by emailing the Council Members or to Don Kraher at dkraher@cityofpensacola.com who will share your thoughts with all Council Members. These emails will be made part of the record of the meeting. Please be aware that all emails become public records and are subject to disclosure.

Send comments to be read during the meeting: A final option is to send your thoughts in written form to Don Kraher at dkraher@cityofpensacola.com and request those thoughts be read into the record at the meeting. Comments will be read as submitted, however no obscenities or curse words will be read. The reading into the record will be relegated to the same two minute time limit in place for the call-in speakers.

Comments

76 Responses to “Pensacola Council To Discuss Confederate Monument, Lee Square. Here’s How To Provide Input.”

  1. Mandy on July 13th, 2020 5:02 pm

    @JTV

    To this day, no federal law has officially given Confederate soldiers the status of U.S. Veterans. Do your research.
    If you can navigate this website you can navigate a google search bar to educate your self about the post you’re commenting on…

  2. JTV on July 13th, 2020 3:19 pm

    @Mandy, False the VA doesn’t give benefits to anyone that is not a Veteran.

    At hundreds of Battle Field anniversaries, both Union and Confederate soldiers got together commemorating the War. This happened until the last soldiers had passed. A lot of these monuments were dedicated at these events. They were erected for the fallen.

  3. Mandy on July 13th, 2020 12:48 pm

    @ JTV

    FALSE. Confederate veterans, widows and children received pensions after congressional action, but that action in itself did not declare those soldiers to be full U.S. veterans.
    The very definition of a U.S. veteran never expanded to include Confederate soldiers when they were granted amnesty by President Andrew Johnson. The definition of “veteran,” as specified by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, does not include Confederate armed forces.

  4. JTV on July 13th, 2020 7:04 am

    @ Thomas Paine and Mandy, Once again, ignorance seems to win these days.
    Congress passed laws in 1929 and 1958 designating all Confederate soldiers as United States veterans, making it illegal to remove monuments to the Confederacy.

    They are US Veterans just the same as the names on the Wall. No one is saying “The South Shall Rise Again” we’re saying don’t tear it down.

  5. Thomas Paine on July 12th, 2020 10:56 pm

    @JTV

    Veterans have no dog in this fight. The only veterans alive now are those of the United States military, the same military that defeated the Confederacy.

    The Confederacy lost. It shall not rise again, despite the 150+ years of redneck whining.

  6. Mandy on July 12th, 2020 8:56 pm

    JTV, the statue isn’t of a US vet??? Lee was a confederate vet. A rebel loser vet.
    Why would veterans be mad unless they were part of the confederate? Maybe because they support the confederate movement. You’re spitting on REAL Americans.

  7. JTV on July 12th, 2020 6:17 pm

    Every veteran should be outraged that this city council is wanting to remove this veteran monument. The liberal left spit on another group of veterans in the sixties and seventies, they’re doing it again now. Don’t let them do it.

  8. Mandy on July 12th, 2020 10:40 am

    This “erasing history” argument isnt even a valid talking point… It’s not being ERASED. We are removing racist dog whistles from our city.
    I’m sure you same people defending the “confederate history” are mad the confederate flag is now BANNED from Nascar. You all are so brainwashed. REMOVE THE STATUE!

  9. Fred on July 12th, 2020 7:58 am

    If you remove this monument you will be removed. We get to vote on to keep you in office. And trust me I won’t forget.

  10. Tabby on July 12th, 2020 6:46 am

    @Pensacola resident—Uh, there are no convictions. Their Liberals. The Liberal has their belief system rooted deeply in emotion not fact or reality. All you have to do is look around you to discern that.

  11. Daniel Gerry on July 12th, 2020 1:37 am

    My question is did you vote on this?
    Allow the people of Pensacola voice be heard from the ballot box, and let those who don’t want the statue pay the full expense to remove it. Either way everyone knows it will be removed no matter what the majority wants. The people of Pensacole better wake up. I wonder why you never hear the Jews discuss in public ” the natzi Germans are racists” in public. Could it be because these godless natzi Germans were racist. Only in America you can cry foul to an ideology that isn’t real.

  12. Pensacola resident on July 12th, 2020 1:09 am

    Our history, good or bad, is still our history. Tearing down monuments will not change what happened. It will only feed the fire to change more things, to try to re-write history.

    City council members, as a tax paying resident, I ask you why you would humor such radical idea? You are charged with leading the whole community, not just a small portion. Think like leaders and step back and see the big picture and what is being done to our great nation. Your decision will show your convictions.

  13. Charles Odom on July 11th, 2020 9:31 pm

    This is disappointing to say the least! It appears as though the hypocrisy and double standards of all the stupid snowflakes these days is growing. Time to wake up people. History happened and you can’t change it or erase it. Quit trying to rename every single object after some black person in history.

  14. JTV on July 11th, 2020 4:48 pm

    @ Sara Russenberger with that mentality, we need to get rid of the Washington monument, the Jefferson memorial, the American flag, Columbus, De Luna, De Leon, and practically anything over fifty years old.

  15. History Guy on July 11th, 2020 4:24 pm

    I see a lot of misinformation in here stating that the Civil War wasn’t primarily about slavery. This sentiment is incorrect.

    Below, I have included a link to an article containing the Southern States’ articles of secession.

    I hope some of you take the time to actually read it. Under the link is an exerpt.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/

    This was the stance of the state of Mississippi leading up to the war:

    “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin…”

    Below is from Louisiana:

    “As a separate republic, Louisiana remembers too well the whisperings of European diplomacy for the abolition of slavery in the times of an­nexation not to be apprehensive of bolder demonstrations from the same quarter and the North in this country. The people of the slave holding States are bound together by the same necessity and determination to preserve African slavery.”

    And some more reading if you’re still not convinced.. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states

  16. B100 on July 11th, 2020 1:02 pm

    David Hule Green – truly thank you for the history lesson, pretty awesome! I hope others will take this opportunity to.read off and learn something.

  17. Sara Russenberger on July 11th, 2020 10:31 am

    These comments speak for a lot. A lot of ignorance.. we don’t need a debate. What is right is moving the monument. Everyone saying were removing history is just parroting taking points that mean nothing. You don’t see statues to Hitler. To remove this is in no way erasing history. It is creating a better future. Let’s not listen to the uneducated and uncaring. Let’s simply do what is right. People here can’t even wear a mask without an uproar. The same people upset this is coming down are the people that want the Confederate flag to keep flying. Let’s not glorify 4 years we foght to keep slavery.. let’s just not.

  18. ELW on July 11th, 2020 7:54 am

    One thing leads to another. Get rid of all statues. Who cares. Its just our history.
    Who wants a history behind them anyway. Just forget the past and start over. If our history is destroyed, where do we go from there. Our new history will be weak politicians, no statues to remember past history, a history that is no longer taught in schools, children that don’t even know what history is. It goes on and on. Oh, and also destroy history books. Don’t want to poison those young minds and bring up bad memories in the older ones. This is just a start to a new, boring future history. Past history cannot be destroyed except in the feeble minds who believe it can.

  19. Hoosier Daddy on July 10th, 2020 9:50 pm

    @ Joe (12:51PM) with acknowledgement to James (4:06PM)
    The southern soldiers were not traitors. They fought for their states and country.
    The secession of the southern states was not illegal, in fact was within their power guaranteed by the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

    Sure there were slaves in the Americas, and all through the Caribbean.The history of how these slaves, and how they came to the Americas is a whole new subject Most of the enslaved in the northern states had been released or traded due to the huge number of European immigrants entering America and being employed by the great industries.

    However the agricultural climate of the south necessitated indentured labor, and was also not illegal in the constitution. However public opinion was turning against this practice This agriculture was the main cause of the war. Huge tariffs were being garnered by the south from European exports of cotton, tobacco, and other crops. The northern states were demanding their share of the taxes, and this was one of the leading causes of the war.

    South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, followed by the other states. President Lincoln continued to build up forces at Ft. Sumter. Contemporaries of President Lincoln said the president recognized there could be a war, and said the north would not fire the first shot. Recognizing the danger at Ft. Sumter the south took the bait and fired that shot on May 12, 1861.( A skirmish occurred at Ft. Pickens on January 10, 1861.) President Lincoln felt any war would be short-lived. Bad gamble.

    President Lincoln said if he could preserve the Union and not free a single slave he would do it. Well we know how this all turned out. Bad judgment on both sides, Industries in the north, and a naval blockade sealed the fate of the south.

    I do not worship monuments, but I do like them, they are symbols of civilization. They are our history.

  20. Tabby on July 10th, 2020 9:37 pm

    @Army Vet—Been waiting for someone to say that. Based on your reasoning then, the”traitor” didn’t kill Americans, he killed a bunch of other traitors, hence how America was created. But that’s ok huh ?

  21. Deborah J Peaden on July 10th, 2020 9:28 pm

    I’m a native Pensacolian. It seems to me there are currently some true cowards in local government positions now. You elected officials should remember that you serve at the pleasure of your constituents and we will be heard! The removal of the soldier at Lee Square is nothing short of erasing our local history and a portion of American history. If we erase history that offends, then let’s erase the history about slavery! We just all came here and formed a country. When you begin stipulating one group over another you have the very definition of racism! Can’t you see that???
    If this is allowed to happen, I’ll expect Grover to form a “staff” group to come get my white rice and pull the sheets off my bed!! The insanity of it is gargantuan! MLKs bust on Palafox has to go as well! Where does it all end? I submit that it ends in November when it comes to a head. That silent majority you easily forget about in your excitement to further “progressive ideology” is beginning to stir. Keep up the insanity and you’ll fully awaken it. Leave Lee Swuare and the statue alone!!!!

  22. John on July 10th, 2020 8:54 pm

    @Army Vet.

    The Civil War was started more to do about taxation than slavery.

  23. David Huie Green on July 10th, 2020 7:38 pm

    REGARDING”
    “THE CONFEDERATE LOST RIGHT??? HELLO! They were fighting for their rights to own SLAVES people! Wake up! It’s not “history” and “heritage”. Its racism and hate!”

    Yup, the Confederacy lost. The Union made successful war on the Confederacy. To the victor go the spoils.

    Nope, they were not fighting for the right to own slaves; they had those in the United States. SOME thought it was all about slavery. Not ALL did. Had the Confederate stats not withdrawn, the United States would have taken far longer to end the odious institution of slavery. People fought for other reasons.

    Take Virginia for example: “Pres. Abraham Lincoln called on Virginia to furnish troops for the invasion. A Virginia convention, which had previously voted 2 to 1 against secession, now voted 2 to 1 against furnishing troops for an invasion and to secede, and Lee resigned from the army in which he had served for 36 years.”

    Lee explained in a letter to his sister: “With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the Army, and, save in defense of my native state, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.”
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-E-Lee

    Some fought to defend their State and their relatives. Were it not for the invasion, they would not have had anyone to fight. There was no SINGLE reason even though you can find all kinds of speeches saying one thing or another.

    David for truth

  24. J.Larry Seale on July 10th, 2020 6:56 pm

    Folk,
    get ready for it to come down. With
    the make up the Pensacola city Council
    its a no brainer………..

  25. j-go on July 10th, 2020 6:53 pm

    Remember–the English government knuckled-under when dealing with Hitler and see what happened–He gained strength and did not honor the agreements made. We have rights as citizens of the greatest country in the entire world. We should be on our knees thanking the Good Lord that we have the rights we have. I shudder to think what would have happened if the world had let Hitler and his ilk get away with their demands. Please, leaders, think of ALL people when making these decisions. We all live here, we all matter, and we should all respect each other’s histories. This is my 2 cents worth. I hope it matters.

  26. BRING IT ON on July 10th, 2020 5:38 pm

    If whittling away at our American history is what BLM and other radical groups want, then it’s time to start taking down MLK sign’s and bringing those roads and highways to their original names. We can start with MLK Blvd in Pensacola bringing it back to Alcaniz St.

  27. Deborah cupp on July 10th, 2020 5:31 pm

    Please please do not remove the monument this is our history this is not about white or black or raise this is history we cannot remove the history of America please reconsider and save her something for the history of Pensacola. If you do this when will it stop ? where will it stop ? will you Erase everything !
    just to please a Group a far left wing radicals. Is there not any sensible people in our leader ship in Pensacola?.
    Deborah Cupp

  28. SP on July 10th, 2020 5:24 pm

    THE CONFEDERATE LOST RIGHT??? HELLO! They were fighting for their rights to own SLAVES people! Wake up! It’s not “history” and “heritage”. Its racism and hate!
    It’s a statue, a symbol, of a racist loser right slap in the middle of town. Tear it down!

  29. Question on July 10th, 2020 4:13 pm

    Nothing wrong with giving your opinion, but how many of you actually live within Pensacola city limits and vote in city elections? If this were to be a referendum, only city residents would be able to vote.

  30. James on July 10th, 2020 4:06 pm

    @Joe – you are reading the wrong books. Had you read an accurate history book then you would know the issue of slavery, albeit a back drop to the Civil War, wasn’t the initial cause of the Civil War. Only after repeated Union defeats by the Army of Northern Virginia did Lincoln devise to use the issue of slavery as a rallying cry for the North to persuade new enlistments and give a new purpose to a badly beaten and utterly demoralized Union army.

  31. Joseph Henehan on July 10th, 2020 3:56 pm

    I believe in learning history by reading and doing research. As a christian sybolism is a sin for any one who cares that much for a statue or flag. Its an easy discussion to talk about why these statues were put in place as a rebellion after losing a war to not be forgotten. Even cross burnings! You want to remove all statues you wont hear an arguement from here. shoot even statues of jesus remove it! crosses remove it! mlk remove it

  32. John on July 10th, 2020 3:55 pm

    @Army Vet. This is about erasing the south. What will you do when they want to start taking down American flags.

  33. just sayin on July 10th, 2020 3:41 pm

    Replace it with a statue of a fool and put the name Grover Robinson on it.

  34. Jack on July 10th, 2020 3:40 pm

    “Robert E. Lee was a famous confederate general who’s brilliance in war waging strategies, his vigor and his achievements during the civil war make him an iconic figure. ” strategies….vigor……achievements , that is what made him famous. All admirable qua!ities, right? KEEP LEE WHERE HE IS

  35. Citizen on July 10th, 2020 3:37 pm

    “There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public.

    Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays.

    Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

    ― Booker T. Washington

    Let that sink in for a minute.

  36. MiB on July 10th, 2020 3:37 pm

    First, the figure of top of the monument is not Gen Lee. It is a figure of an unknown soldier in defeat at Appomattox. Second, the (approximately) 1,000 soldiers of the Florida Brigade were about 18-years of age, and conscripted (meaning drafted to serve by law). Third, all of them were killed (only about 70 of 1,000 survived to Appomattox). The writer who said that all culture should be negated is correct, because African slavery was started by the Kings of France, Spain, and England to fund their Empire’s. So, that’s 3-more flags to take down. So now, Pensacola FL is the City of one flag…

  37. Just say NO on July 10th, 2020 3:19 pm

    @Army vet
    it’s a statue of an Army vet with his hat in his hand modeled after the painting “After Appotomax”

  38. Hoosier Daddy on July 10th, 2020 3:17 pm

    Does anybody remember when it was fashionable to wear big chains around the neck of some citizens? Today you still see chain tag brackets on some cars. Asking what was the symbolism, and the answer was usually to remind the user of the suffering of their ancestors. Ask them why they want to remove the many statues…well, I think you get the gist of this.

    I hope they can hide Borden’s cow before the vegetarians find her.

  39. Just say NO on July 10th, 2020 3:17 pm

    We now have a civil rights attorney citing facebook for hate crimes if some one says Make American great again? You are a racist and should be fired for believing in a country? The Far Left agenda is INSANE. If you say “All lives matter” or call the police on a criminal who happens to be black. All in the name of “improve diversity, equity, and inclusion across the force and build cohesive teams.”

    Let’s be clear — this is an attack on Caucasians, the Country and the Rule of law.

    Just keep the monument, save the money, and don’t capitulate to the extremist’s insanity.

    Email the City of Pensacola

  40. Brick Tamland on July 10th, 2020 2:51 pm

    LOUD NOISES!

  41. Hullabaloo on July 10th, 2020 1:59 pm

    For telyman (responding to a request from an earlier post:

    “Robert E. Lee personally owned slaves that he inherited upon the death of his mother, Ann Lee, in 1829. (His son, Robert E. Lee Jr., gave the number as three or four families.) Following the death of his father-in-law, George Washington Parke Custis, in 1857, Lee assumed command of 189 enslaved people, working the estates of Arlington, White House, and Romancoke. Custis’ will stipulated that the enslaved people that the Lee family inherited be freed within five years.

    Lee, as executor of Custis’ will and supervisor of Custis’ estates, drove his new-found labor force hard to lift those estates from debt. Concerned that the endeavor might take longer than the five years stipulated, Lee petitioned state courts to extend his control of enslaved people.”

    “…Mr. Gwin, our overseer, who was ordered by Gen. Lee to strip us to the waist and give us fifty lashes each, excepting my sister, who received but twenty; we were accordingly stripped to the skin by the overseer, who, however, had sufficient humanity to decline whipping us; accordingly Dick Williams, a county constable, was called in, who gave us the number of lashes ordered; Gen. Lee, in the meantime, stood by, and frequently enjoined Williams to lay it on well, an injunction which he did not fail to heed; not satisfied with simply lacerating our naked flesh, Gen. Lee then ordered the overseer to thoroughly wash our backs with brine, which was done.”

    from an American Civil War Museum article by Sean Kane (2017)

    “I think it wiser moreover not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavoured to obliterate the marks of civil strife and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered,” he wrote.

    1. “Not only did Lee oppose Confederate monuments, “he favored erasing battlefields from the landscape altogether,” Horn wrote.

    2. “He even supported getting rid of the Confederate flag after the Civil War ended. He didn’t want it flying above Washington College, of which he was president after the war.”

    Excerpts (1) from “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington” (2016) by Jonathan Horn and an article (2) from Business Insider by Daniel Brown (2017)

    Hope this helps.

  42. North end. Flash on July 10th, 2020 1:56 pm

    Don’t forget Mardi Gras has to be stopped, no more parades…no history… all destroyed.

  43. ST on July 10th, 2020 1:54 pm

    We should replace it with a statue of Hitler. We don’t want to forget our history.
    Hitler had a major impact on our country.

  44. Army vet on July 10th, 2020 1:45 pm

    It’s a statue of a traitor who committed treason against the United states then went on to kill Americans to keep his “right” to own slaves. It should be removed, America’s enemies shouldn’t have statues honoring them. Whether its Osama bin laden, Hitler, or the confederacy they were all America’s enemy, they belong in history books not the town square.

  45. C. Narciso on July 10th, 2020 1:36 pm

    You can erase history leave it alone

  46. Just say no on July 10th, 2020 1:35 pm

    Do not reward race hustlers and race bully terrorists. As long as playing victim is rewarded it will continue.

  47. C. Narciso on July 10th, 2020 1:32 pm

    Ok so you take it down what’s next after that after that so on so on so on it never stops you will never please them it’s not what they are looking for leave the history alone it is what it is and you can’t change it you can only learn from it I don’t understand why intelligent people like yourselves even listen to these people I’m dumbfounded over this especially you MAYOR ?

  48. Bewildered on July 10th, 2020 1:04 pm

    JTV … Oh yes, the Escambia High School riots between 1972 – 1977. After the “ Rebels “ name was put to rest – it was supposed to be Harmony between the races from then on. Who knew it was uonly the beginning..,

  49. Stonewall Jackson on July 10th, 2020 1:01 pm

    Confederate Soldiers are hero’s that stood up to government oppression and if we take them down we disgrace the sacrifice they made for their country and that would be disgraceful.

  50. Freedom on July 10th, 2020 12:51 pm

    Next.. War on ethnic food aisle’s? So devisive.

  51. Joe on July 10th, 2020 12:51 pm

    Personally I learn about history from reading a book, not staring at a statue. Confederate soldiers were traitors who waged war on the United States so they could keep slaves. The confederate flag and these statues honor a failed traitorous movement.

  52. Concerned Citizen on July 10th, 2020 12:46 pm

    Take it down, let’s also remove the Don Tristan de Luna statue downtown, he is responsible for the murder of the indigenous people in Mexico (Oaxacans). Do away with Ferdinand Square and Ferdinand Plaza, King Ferdinand of Spain financed the voyages that resulted in the murder of the indigenous people here and Central America. Take down the statue of General Bernardo Galvez, he is responsible for the deaths of indigenous people during the siege of Pensacola in 1871. Remove the remnants of Ft George, it was built to protect the killers of the indigenous people, Take down the obelisk in Ferdinand Square that is there to honor William D Chipley, he was responsible for bringing the L&N Railroad here, but he was a racist. Let’s rename the Brent area named for Francis Celestino Brent, tear down the Brent Building built for him, and rename Brent Blvd. he was a racist. All this sounds stupid, huh? This where we are headed folks, stupid or not.
    Concerned Citizen

  53. Bewildered on July 10th, 2020 12:45 pm

    Sherry Ewy – Do you volunteer to get the taxpayers Off the hook and pay the
    $120 000 Needed to take it down.? If so, At least someone From the liberal group puts their money where their mouth is. Actually the area will remain a park either way, and the statue does not require much upkeep unless useless thugs decide to douse it with paint or otherwise damage it

  54. Sherry Ewy on July 10th, 2020 12:33 pm

    When you refer to “they” and “them” and “us” and “we”, you sound ridiculous and make our community sound horrible and hateful. This statue is maintained by public funds and tax dollars. When we are allowed to decide where our tax dollars are going you can spend yours however heinously you wish. Mine, I’d rather not go to a statue dedicated by a racist from up north. Wouldn’t you rather have a local artist anyway?

  55. terry on July 10th, 2020 12:02 pm

    Please reconsider on taking down history, we use to be known as the city of five flags,now we are not. we have confederate soldiers buried not far from this monument, If you take down the confederate statue ,then you need to take down martin lutherking.

  56. np630ss on July 10th, 2020 11:57 am

    How many years has that statue stood before someone somewhere decided to be offended. I’m offended at the thought of removing it. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say you have a right to be I un-offended. If you don’t like the statue, don’t visit the park. Pensacola shouldn’t play follow the leader and purge the past because someone else does in their short sightedness. To my knowledge no one is tearing down the Egyptian Pyramids, the Roman Colosseum, Easter Island Monoliths, Myanmar Pyramids, etc, etc.

  57. telyman on July 10th, 2020 11:33 am

    Anyone posting anything as a fact should include their sources.

    IMHO:
    I have no issue with moving the Confederate statue. I personally favor the Barrancas National Cemetery. Cede it to the Federal Government; they’ll protect it. I do have issue with using public funds (my tax dollars) to move it. (before the haters start, I said move it not maintain it) Start a Go-Fund-Me, get corporate donations, have a bake sale. Just fund it yourselves if you want it moved and restored at a different location. I have a feeling this would garner popular support.
    What I DO NOT support is tit-for-tat. “If you tear down my statue than your statue must go too.” Nope. Find a solution using an inclusive group.

    Speaking of being inclusive…

    “…staff has determined that Lee Square and the monument does not reflect our current values nor strive to create a more inclusive City.”
    So Lee Square and the monument does not reflect the current values of the STAFF. Just what are the Staff’s current values? What about the current values of the citizens of Pensacola? Did the staff ask? Did they hold public meetings? Does this mean that everything was OKay with the monument in the past and will be again in the future, but currently… not so much?
    And the usage (Actually over-usage. Again IMHO) of “inclusive” to describe this situation is simply wrong. Read the comments on another NorthEscambia.com story here:

    http://www.northescambia.com/2020/07/city-administration-recommends-removal-of-pensacolas-lee-square-confederate-monument

    If anything this is being divisive not inclusive.

    Enough is enough. We need to stop destroying stuff. We need to stop trying to out-shout each other. We need to start listening to each other again. We need to stop pointing out our differences and celebrate what’s common.

    We need to grow up.

    (re-posted from an earlier story)

  58. Shaking My Head on July 10th, 2020 11:30 am

    Stop with the cancel culture. By giving in to their demands, they are embolden to do more. It’s absolutely insane. Our ELECTED leaders have no backbone. Period.

  59. TG on July 10th, 2020 11:17 am

    History is History; there is no changing it. Politicians bow down to radicals because they are weak. Remove weak Politicians and leave History alone. If History is forgotten, it is bound to be repeated.

  60. Steve on July 10th, 2020 11:05 am

    How about we name it Lt. Slemmer Square? He acted swiftly to preserve the US would be able to hold Ft. Pickens and thus keep Pensacola from serving as a port to the rebellion. He was out gunned and outmanned but stood valiantly until forcing secessionists out of Pensacola by October of 1861.

  61. DD on July 10th, 2020 10:35 am

    We have monuments to important events in Pensacola history: discovery and settlement (Luna), revolutionary war (Galvez), statehood (Jackson), wars (Veterans Memorial Park)…this is the only visible monument of Pensacola in the Civil War. I think Jefferson Davis should be taken off (never was in Pensacola), but why not add others important in Pensacola’s Civil War period from both Union and Confederate sides as well as Pensacola’s contributions to abolition of slavery in the United States (Jonathan Walker) and in the British Empire (Dido Elizabeth Belle).

  62. tax payer on July 10th, 2020 10:32 am

    YOU GOING TO REMOVE ALL HISTORY????? INCLUDING MLK BUST!!!!!!!!

  63. Karen on July 10th, 2020 10:27 am

    I disagree with removing the monument. I emailed Mayor Robinson last night and I appreciate William providing us with the other options to contact the city council. I will be emailing them as well. Escambia county residents should be able to vote on this decision! Better yet, only allow Escambia county tax-payers to vote on it since it’s our hard earned tax dollars that are spent for upkeep or will be spent for removal if the spineless council decides to do that. All of these people who want it removed should be able to show that they actually contribute to society & our county. If you aren’t a tax-payer & are living off the government (our tax dollars) then ‘you get what you get, and you don’t pitch a fit!’ You don’t deserve a day in how these dollars are spent!

  64. Bewildered on July 10th, 2020 9:47 am

    You cannot negotiate with a group who is that stupid to believe a stone monument is to blame for all the violence and mayhem going on within their community.

  65. JTV on July 10th, 2020 9:34 am

    Let’s see, changing Rebels to Patriots/gators will appease them.
    Let’s rename this street to commemorate a famous man of color
    Hmm, let’s change the flag to this less offensive flag, that’ll fix it.
    Yikes! They want to tear down the hundred year old Lee statue. Let’s appease them again and tear down history.

    Keep paying the hostage takers ransom, you’ll guarantee more hostages will be taken.

  66. Billy Welch on July 10th, 2020 9:14 am

    Leave it, so very dangerous to start erasing history, and a little hypocritical, since the city put up a statue of DeLuna, who brought both Aztec and black slaves with him when he came to Pensacola

  67. James on July 10th, 2020 9:07 am

    Well said Anon but why honor the evil parts.

  68. Stephen Hall on July 10th, 2020 8:51 am

    Leave Our History Alone Please.

  69. James on July 10th, 2020 8:44 am

    @Easy Peezy – So if we rename all white historical figure sites after black historical figures then racism will be solved in this country? Exterminating one race in favor of another race? It’s easy enough to see the similarity. BLM is nothing more than anarchists and fascists using racism to divide a country’s people in order to more easily assume power.

  70. vfw on July 10th, 2020 8:29 am

    NAZI Removed History . burned Books Then BURNED PEOPLE THE MAYOR/COUNCIL HAVE BECOME THE NEW NAZI

  71. Easy peezy on July 10th, 2020 7:53 am

    Here’s a thought… remove the monument since so many people seem to be offended by it, but keep the name Lee Square. Dedicate it to another Lee. How about… William Lee? He was an African-American slave who was owned by George Washington and served as his personal assistant. Mr. Lee was the only one of Washington’s slaves freed immediately after the execution of his will.

  72. David Bailly on July 10th, 2020 7:32 am

    Leave this historic monument in the location as it has been for over a century.

  73. sam on July 10th, 2020 6:46 am

    this is the south. should be a no brainer.

  74. Bewildered on July 10th, 2020 5:16 am

    ridiculous demands from BLM organizers will not only continue- they will demand all kinds of things and get bolder as time goes on. It’s too late for the “silent majority“ to Intervene, they have been silent too long.

  75. DK on July 10th, 2020 4:03 am

    It does not matter what input anyone has that wants it to stay the decision has already been made to erase history because of the mayor of Pensacola.The country administrator wants re-election so he’s requesting it be removed so we all know what’s gonna happen before it even takes place.Why we are at it erase all history down town there should not be a double standard what’s good for one side is good for the other so do away with statues of MLK and streets named after him and while we are renaming let’s rename the new 3 mile bridge 3 mile bridge .

  76. Anon on July 10th, 2020 3:21 am

    This is just sad that anyone would even consider changing our history.. all history has good and evil but it’s our history.