Duo renew fight on Middlesex monument

Middlesex Supervisor John Koontz, and citizen speaking at meeting, want it moved, despite referendum vote

by Larry Chowning –

The Middlesex County electorate made it clear on Nov. 4, 2021 that the 1910 Confederate monument on the historic county courthouse green should not be removed.

The referendum asked the question, “Should the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) remove the Civil War monument from the historic courthouse grounds?”
The electorate voted 4,270 to keep the monument (77.3%) and 1,254 (22.7%) voters voted to remove the monument. The referendum, however, is not binding and supervisors still have the power to overrule the electorate and remove the monument. All it would take is three votes by supervisors to have it removed.

Robert Jackson of Urbanna and Hartfield representative John Koontz have continued the conversation on slavery at the board’s December and January meetings. At the MCBS meeting on Jan. 4, Jackson gave a prepared talk during the public comment period encouraging the board to remove the monument. Jackson was the only citizen to speak about the monument at the meeting.

“As an African-American, when I walk near a Confederate statue is sickens me. The one and only thing these monuments represent is a celebration of white supremacy and slavery,” he said.

“The unequal numbers of monuments honoring Black Union soldiers in comparison to Confederate monuments is not reflective of the beliefs of many U.S. citizens and it shows just how divisive these monuments are. Certain people who are so eager to keep the statues up are the same people who oppose the creation of monuments for civil rights leaders.

“If the monuments are not put in a proper historical context their divisiveness could outweigh their usefulness as reminders to two very difficult periods of American history. Confederate memorials, monuments and flags enable public worshipping of white supremacy. It is for these reasons that this Confederate monument in front of this courthouse, that fought to uphold slavery, be removed.”

At the January board meeting during supervisors comments, Koontz read information on a recently installed state historic road sign in Essex County concerning an Essex lynching of an African-American near the Middlesex County-Essex County line near Laneview.

At the January MCBS meeting, he read a lengthy document on the advancement of modern day public education and special education being created at the end of slavery and from the Civil Rights movement.

Supervisors voted 3-2 in July 2021 to remove the monument. However, the board was required to conduct a public hearing before a final vote could be taken. In the meantime, then-Saluda District Supervisor Pete Mansfield made a motion to place the matter on the ballot and it was approved on another 3-2 vote. Mansfield, however, made it clear that he would vote to remove the monument, but that he wanted voters to have a voice in the matter.