The days are numbered for a controversial Confederate monument in downtown McDonough.
The Henry County Commission on Tuesday approved removing the structure, which has sat in the McDonough Square for 120 years, in the next 60 days. Its removal will bring to an end years of sporadic protests over the structure and make moot the almost 13,800 signatures in a a recent Change.org online petition calling for its removal.
Commissioners debated a number of solutions on what to do with the monument, including letting voters decide its fate in a referendum in November to holding off on a vote to allow time for more discussion.
But with similar monuments coming down across the country as the nation addresses its systemic racism, a majority of the commission said now is the time for its removal.
“That statue doesn’t belong on Henry County property,” said Commissioner Dee Clemmons, who proposed the removal.
The monument is the latest in metro Atlanta to be scheduled for removal. DeKalb County removed a 30-foot Confederate obelisk outside the county courthouse in Decatur late last month after a judge said it should be removed and put in storage. A week later, Rockdale County Commission Chairman Oz Nesbitt issued an executive order to remove a Confederate monument outside the courthouse of the east metro Atlanta community.
The removal of the McDonough monument also comes as the demographics of Henry County have changed. Once rural and mostly white — Henry had about 36,200 residents in 1980 — the county has boomed to about 235,000 people today and is majority-minority.
The McDonough monument is believed to have been erected in 1910 by a local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and sits on land owned by the county, but managed by the city in a lease agreement. The statue at the monument’s top is of Col. Charles T. Zachry, a confederate soldier and Henry resident.
McDonough officials did not comment on the county’s plans.
The Henry Commission vote was 4-to-1, with County Commissioner Gary Barham in opposition.
“Right now I don’t support taking the statue down, but I do support having a conversation,” Barham said, adding that he thinks the debate around the monument has been one-sided.
He also asked his colleagues to table a decision until fellow Commissioner Johnny Wilson, who missed the meeting because he is under the weather, could offer his thoughts.
Commissioners rejected the request, saying they were not taking the action in a vacuum. The measure is a response to citizens’ requests.
“We are leaders and we were elected to lead this county,” Commissioner Vivian Thomas said.
About the Author
