Thread: Alabama bill could stop removal of Confederate monuments

Updated 2:08 pm, Tuesday, February 9, 2016
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — As some southern cities mull taking down the Confederate monuments that dot the Old South, an Alabama legislator wants to stop their ability to do so.

Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa has proposed legislation that would prohibit cities from taking down historic monuments and memorials on public property without obtaining permission from a legislative panel.

The proposal sparked passionate testimony in committee, but a similar bill failed to win approval last year.

The New Orleans City Council in December voted to take down four monuments, including a bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The city of Birmingham has explored removing a Confederate memorial from a downtown park.

Gov. Robert Bentley last year removed four Confederate flags from the Alabama Capitol.

Alabama bill could stop removal of Confederate monuments - SFGate

Alabama legislators aim to preserve Confederate memorials

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Confederate monuments erected after the Civil War to honor Southern soldiers have increasingly been targeted by civil rights activists who say they are offensive to blacks and should be taken down. An Alabama legislator wants to make sure that doesn't happen without state lawmakers' approval.

Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa has proposed a bill that would prohibit the removal of historic monuments, plaques and statues from public property unless a committee of lawmakers grants a waiver.

“I think there is an undercurrent, not just in Alabama but throughout the nation,” of people who “want to kind of rewrite history or whitewash it,” Allen said during a public hearing on the bill Tuesday.

Allen's bill does not specify Confederate monuments, only historic objects of “remembrance,” but it arrives after a handful of Southern cities — including Birmingham — are seeking to shed symbols of the Old Confederacy.

The city of Birmingham, where the majority of residents are black, has the possibility of removing a Confederate memorial from a downtown park.

Alabama legislators aim to preserve Confederate memorials | TribLIVE