JACKSONVILLE: Mayoral candidates' views on Confederate monuments split on party lines
The Take 'Em Down Jax protestors still rally each Friday in front of City Hall demanding the removal of the Confederate monument from Springfield Park.
They might still be picketing in July when the next mayor and City Council take office because the current council has repeatedly put off making a decision on whether the monument should stay or go.
Mayor Lenny Curry, who cannot run again because of term limits, has supported moving the monument and put $500,000 in this year's budget to cover the cost if City Council decided to make that change. Curry's position has been that city-owned property should not be the site of a monument that divides the community and represents racial hatred to some residents....
The positions taken by mayoral candidates mirror the split citywide between Democratic voters and Republicans voters. A University of North Florida poll released Feb. 28 found 79% of Democrats support moving Confederate monuments from public space. Among Republicans, the view was reversed with 83% opposed to moving such monuments off public space.
Both Democrats running for mayor say the city should move the monument, which is called "Tribute to the Women of the Southern Confederacy" and features statue of woman reading to two children, and another statue of a robe-draped woman holding a Confederate flag.
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2023/03/17/jacksonville-mayor-candidates-split-on-confederate-monument/70020613007/
