U Mississippi (Oxford) English department calls for action on Confederate statue
Dear Chancellor Vitter:
The recent events in Charlottesville make even clearer what many of us have known for some time: Confederate monuments are not only an affront to a large proportion of our population, but are also a rallying point for neo-Confederates, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and the so-called alt-right. These monuments have never been about teaching or commemorating history, but were rather raised as tools of oppression against the African-American community and symbols of white supremacy. Monuments like these were purposefully placed in strategic locations—the statue of the Confederate soldier in the Lyceum Circle very clearly warns African Americans to stay off campus and continues to alienate many members of the UM community.
We urge you to take immediate action to relocate the monument to the Confederate cemetery on campus—another public place that is a much more appropriate resting place for a tribute to fallen soldiers. In doing so the University of Mississippi would stand among other colleges and universities in the South and nationwide that have in recent days either removed, or declared their intention to remove, Confederate monuments from places of prominence on their campus to more appropriate sites. These include UT-Austin, Duke University, and Bowdoin College. More colleges and universities are assured to follow suit. Given our university’s particular history on race and segregation, the University of Mississippi should do the same ...
http://thedmonline.com/english-department-calls-action-chancellor-regarding-confederate-statue/
