Confederate monument at Linn Park in downtown Birmingham.
Photo by Scott Buttram/The Trussville Tribune
By Scott Buttram, publisher
BIRMINGHAM –City workers descended on Linn Park at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and began erecting a wall around a Confederate monument at the entrance to the park. It took workers just over 30 minutes to assemble the plywood structure that was 12 feet tall and completely blocked the base of the monument which included an inscription of a quote from Jefferson Davis.
Watch the live video here.
The stage was set during a city council meeting earlier Tuesday and may prove to be a violation of state law.
Confederate monument in Linn Park.
Photo by Scott Buttram/The Trussville Tribune
In the meeting, council president Johnathan Austin confronted mayor William Bell, demanding that he remove the monument from the park. The subject arose following a weekend of violence and deaths in Charlottesville, Virginia as protesters and counter-protesters clashed over the removal of Confederate statues in that city.
Bell answered Austin’s demands by saying he was not inclined to break state law in reference to the Memorial Preservation Act passed by the state legislature in the most recent session. That law, sponsored in the House by representative Mack Butler-Gadsden and in the Senate by Gerald Allen-Tuscaloosa, requires specific permission from the Committee on Alabama Monument Protection before removing or renaming any historical monument or statue over 40 years old.
Austin responded that the mayor should remove the monument and suffer the repercussions or cover the monument.
The bill prohibits the relocation, removal, alteration, renaming, or other disturbance of any architecturally significant building, memorial building, memorial street, or monument located on public property which has been in place for at least 20 years and less than 40 years. Violating the law could result in a $25,000 fine.
At least one state legislator considers the move by Birmingham to be a violation of state law.
“Birmingham’s Mayor is clearly breaking state law,” Butler posted on social media. “No alteration is allowed. I submit the covering is an alteration!”
Unlike the scene that played out in Charlottesville, there were no protesters or counter protesters present during the late-night scene in Birmingham until the arrival of mayoral candidate Frank Matthews.
The scene was quiet with only media outlets and a few uniformed police officers present as workers went about their business until Matthews began shouting for them to removal the wall while accusing Bell and the city council of political grandstanding. Matthews repeatedly confronted mayoral assistant Don Lupo, but Lupo refused to respond to Matthew’s accusations and verbal assaults.
According to multiple media accounts, Bell had ordered the monument covered after the city council meeting. Spokesperson April Odom has not responded to emails and phone calls seeking confirmation.
The monument, which has stood at the entrance to the park for 112 years, was provide to the city of Birmingham in 1905 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
109 Comments
Dianne Bobo-Carraway
This is trying to forget history!!!
Christopher Card
But that same mayor of our state’s largest city will be THE FIRST ONE IN LINE to protest building a wall along our country’s southern border…..does anyone else see the hypocrisy there??? He’d be better served making Birmingham a safer, better educated, more prosperous community. Rather than worrying about a statue that he could easily remedy by building a civil rights statue and having it put in Linn Park or better yet every city park. Give every city park a civil rights statue. File it under infrastructure. Get President Trump to help pay for it through the infrastructure bill and we all come out winners.
Marlene Little Appleton
Incredibly sad
Amanda Rains
Forgetting the history slave supporters is fine by me.
Roy Busler
Build them walls, divide, segregate, go back to the 60’s with this shit! Give me a break!
Charles Bush
I hope somebody comes along and tears that damn wall down!
Judy Williams Coleman
Fine ! Now go take the friggin MLK street sign down, the Civil Rights museum needs closed , Black History month needs to be banned let’s just just say screw history and take every bit of it down and not teach history any more! Fair is fair!
Ron Cherry
He is trying to buy votes with this junk. This is about the dumbest crap I have seen. He is trying to rewrite history
Jennifer W Bain
I am so tired of people trying to wipe out our Southern History! There have been events happening since the beginning of time that have been terrible. Lots and lots of things. Sure , the War Between The States was a difficult time in American history. But it did happen. I do not think slavery or owning people is right. But the war was not all about slavery. Leave the monuments and statues alone. I see a lot of street names , building names etc. that I totally do not agree with. Others feel the same probably. But you don’t see me or the ones that feel like I do, going out and destroying them.
Tyler Skewes
Grab your torches!
Jennifer McCauley Markstrom
This is exactly how I feel about these events. I thought we were all being told to be more tolerant!
Lay Dean James
Next they will be trying to really get over on the true ancestors of this country the American Indian
Tonya Hardin Yarchak
Can no one but me see the humor here? They didn’t destroy it, remove it or alter it. They simply erected a temporary structure around it. Actually, it’s probably better protected from protesters now than any other memorial/monument. I’m actually glad that the City of Birmingham took a thoughtful approach to this issue instead of the knee jerk reaction they typically go about things.
Sue J Richards
Well said, Jennifer.
Ronald Hagood Jr.
You are an idiot.
Nick Smith
So not having a monument to glorify something, Is forgetting it? I don’t care about the monuments either way. I think the confederacy was wrong, and think some of my ancestors were wrong that fought for it. But I don’t care about a stupid statue.
William Kennedy
Raise your hand, statue enthusiasts. When’s the last time you set foot in Linn Park?
Kathryn Smith
I guess Bell would like to take the attention away from our high crime rate. Who would go to the park after dark anyway?
Brittany Tynes
I’m glad I’m not the only one who giggled for half a second at this. In NO way do I support this, it actually disgusts me, but for a moment when I saw this I thought, “wow, so hidden. they must feel so badass.” I am glad it wasn’t destroyed in any way. They know they’re going to get a reaction out of people, and the people give it to them. It’s just basically what the world has come to. 😏
Tonya Hardin Yarchak
I recognize the pressure they are under to remove such monuments. I have mixed feelings about it, my self. I’ve lived in Alabama my whole life, I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the civil war but these monuments hold little meaning for me personally. I do think they are works of art that should be preserved in some way.
Allen Long
Mr Bell, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!!!
Seriously why is this an issue. Are we near an election year for city leaders again? Shouldn’t they be more concerned with tackling the crime issue, improving education, or how about fixing the potholes on a lot of these city streets? Those are all far more important than an old statue in Lynn Park.
Drake Odeneal
Build a wall around Birmingham.
Nicholas Santiago
Luckily the far leftist haven’t recruited any Mexicans on their side cause #wallsdontmatter. Too soon?
Joyce M Ashley
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Linn#Background
Read this and educate yourself. It is laughable what Mayor Bell did.
Susan G Neville
Amen Judy…..
Janet Nelson Eubanks
I was there last night, and felt perfectly safe.
Rhonda Roberts Hickman
I wish they were as concerned about the lighting along the interstate. Funny how they can’t fix that issue that has been going on for a long time now.
Annette Smith Gorham
They did break the law! If citizens did this, they’d be arrested. Period.
Beverly Elders Cross
These statues have been here for many many years. I’m just confused as to why they are just now causing such a huge problem.
Tonya Hardin Yarchak
Unfortunately, lighting on the interstate is in the state’s control. Much like the park that has taken 5 years to complete.
Kathryn Smith
Janet Nelson Eubanks I’m sure last night there was lots of security. Try it another time when there’s no spot light on it.
U r taking a risk. I know first hand.
Kathryn Smith
Janet Nelson Eubanks
Ronald Tetlow
The mayor and city leaders of Birmingham need to be put in arrested and be force to tear there wall down this violence toward civil war is nonsense my kids or grandkids will not understand civil war if history is take away
Charlene Wilson Scharf
And do not exit
Tammy McCown
How? How does removing a statue in government property, a statue glorifying treason against said government, change history??
Concentration camps and gas chambers have been leveled. That did not change the fact there was a Holocaust. There are no statues to Nazi’s in Germany, and that does not change the fact he was a monster.
I have no problem with these being in private property or being in a museum. They do not belong on our public areas.
Tammy McCown
Tiki’s???
Tammy McCown
I jave no problem at all being downtown or anywhere. Have never been afraid.
Norman Biddy
why have they not tore down the Alamo in texas??? oh i didnt mean to give them any ideas
Kathryn Smith
Tammy McCown everyone thinks about their own experience. I’m glad yours has turned out well.
Jeff Carter
They need to sale them and some one put them on some land and if you won’t to you can go see them
Jamie Ball
And the need to take down all Martin Luther King signs and all Martin Luther King statues because he was against gay marriage right?
Ellen Foster ORear
Bell and Austin need to step down. This city is everyone’s and these two are being racist to the extreme
Jeff Odeneal
Amazing that political leaders and media feel this is more time worthy, than the 68 homicides that have gone on in Birmingham so far this year. But what do I know about priorities?
Alen Turner
Needs to be protected
Mike Clark
Not arguing, but that probably can be asked of most that want it removed as well.
Patty Vandrell Pearson
I think a lot of people are forgetting there are laws. So many people and groups are breaking these laws and are not being punished for it. We have laws to protect us and our cities etc. OBEY THE LAW PEOPLE.
Celeste M Blair
Yeah, and mayor Bell has been mayor for how long now? And suddenly it’s a problem for him when it becomes trendy?
Jason Sherk
There are no statues of Hitler, but all Jewish and German remember, hopefully the whole World does.
Jason Sherk
Maybe because they were fighting for America and not against it?
Tammy McCown
I just do not choose to look at black people as all criminals.
Jason Sherk
They look so cute chanting tough hate with Bed Bath and Beyond tiki torches. Looks kinda gay to me.
Andy Sullivan
I’m offended that it’s covered up!!!!
Jason Sherk
Tolerance of Racist Traitors is not what tolerance is about.
Joanna Miller Lucia
Crazy
Emmett Haislip
No more white history, no more welfare. Then the madness would stop.
Kathryn Smith
Tammy McCown I don’t think the word black people has been in this conversation. Criminals come in all colors.
Johnathon Upchurch
They should build a wall around the mayors office with him in it and keep it there until he can balance b’hams budget.
Melissa Thompson
Remind me…which battle was fought at Linn Park? Which Confederate soldier was buried there?
Diana Katrina Ingram
They did it that way because they didn’t have a choice. His initial plan was to destroy it.
Diana Katrina Ingram
Discrimination; the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
Hmmm…
Cindy Kay Nix
Yep
Cindy Kay Nix
I was thinking today why does it make me so mad I never visit these parks.
Kathy Sills
Fools
Marie King
It’s all about the mayoral election on Aug 22. William Bell wants votes.
Michelle McCurry
DeLane McCurry
The Trussville Tribune
Alabama AG files suit against Birmingham and mayor.
https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2017/08/16/attorney-general-files-suit-against-birmingham-mayor-over-confederate-monument/
Debi Krueger Hart
Tammy McCown I am currently living in Germany. Not all Extermination/Concentration camps have not been leveled. And it was the Nazi’s who leveled them trying to hide evidence. I have stood in a gas chamber, and seen the bullet holes in the walls were people were shot. There are many of Hitlers buildings in tact. At his rally grounds they play soccer games. Now you will not see a swastika in a park you will see it in a museum.
Tammy McCown
And that is where these statues belong.
Tammy McCown
I never specified who destroyed some of the camps. My point is destroying them did not change history. Moving a statue won’t either
Joe Domnanovich
Tear down the racist City Hall.
Kelli Penque
They can build a wall that fast but can’t build a bridge or finish roadwork in a million years
Wanda Stack
Guilty guilty guilty.
25,000 $ fine. Sock it to ’em.
Sylvester Poe
Put Bell in jail put Bell in jail
Sylvester Poe
Put a wall around that MLK monument it’s a dye sore of Alabama
Patrick Jonathan
I am sorry but what negative connotation does Martin Luther Kings legacy or the end of segregation through the civil rights movements have to do with this? You want to attack MLK who lived 100 years after the Civil War over the monuments being covered?? Where is the logic in that other than blatant racism?
Sylvester Poe
You white prick
Patrick Jonathan
You’re just reaching to find something to take away from African Americans. Educate yourself since all your brain can do is resort to insults.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments/
Patrick Jonathan
Don’t even bother responding old man. I can see from your previous posts you are confirmed ignorant.
Patrick Jonathan
Patty Vandrell Pearson
Lord help us all!
Adam Bischoff
Put them in jail!
Joey Blalock
Jonathan Austin is a little weasel!
Sullivan Harris Dorene
What is a dye sore?
Sullivan Harris Dorene
What is a dye sore?
Eden Hall
Andruw Holston
Amber Busler Donlan
Also, his great-great grandson as come out to say that their family is ok with them coming down.
Telise Maquaire
Grow up
Briana Moore
I think they should take it down and put it somewhere that is safe for interested people to go and view it. I haven’t been in Linn Park in over 20 years – don’t go anywhere in Bham that isn’t just completely unavoidable.
Roland Hill
No more welfare would hurt your race reasearch the statistical data
Kim Hutchison
Taking these monuments down will not change how people feel or think.
It will not change a racist persons perspective.
It will not make things better.
You can’t erase history and you can’t avoid it.
But apparently the people that want to destroy history and monuments are too stupid and ignorant to realize any of that.
They think they can just destroy what they want, and do what they want, and that there will be no repercussions on their part.
But what they don’t see and choose to not see is that it’s only going to get worse.
What are they gonna take down next? That’s my question.
Get your head out of your asses and wake up and realize you can’t change the past, you can’t change history, and you won’t be able to change the right of freedom.
Khalia Kennedy
How is that fair? Are you senile?
Jay Thrasher
Fuck that statue!!
Judy Williams Coleman
Khalia Kennedy no I’m not senile but if they want to take one statue down take all of them down! I can live with no statues! It’s very fair! I hate history so remove it ALL end of problem!
Bailey Wood
MLK signs and memorials represent a largely peaceful movement for equality and unity. Confederate statues represent treason against the United States. I see a pretty big difference there
Judy Williams Coleman
Bailey Wood it’s History!
Bailey Wood
Judy Williams Coleman I’m not arguing for the destruction of the statues. I just don’t think we should glorify traitors. Museums contain history too. Where are there statues of Hitler in Germany?
Judy Williams Coleman
Bailey Wood they have concentration camps in Germany that you can go tour!
Kenny Denham
It’s not rewriting history; it will still be in libraries. It’s just not a constant reminder to African Americans that they live in a state that condoned slavery!
Kenny Denham
If you think that way then we don’t want you anyway–move to Atlanta and deal with the traffic
Kenny Denham
It’s not rewriting history; it will still be in libraries. The statues are a constant reminder to African Americans that they live in a state that condoned slavery!
Kenny Denham
Dude. Covering racist civil war monuments is racist? Please try to defend your point.
Kenny Denham
MLK promoted non-violent protests which is far from what I saw last week in Charlottesville.
Kenny Denham
Why? Did you fight in the civil war? I had ancestors that did and I’m not offended.
Kenny Denham
Guilty of…what, exactly ?
Kenny Denham
Why?
Kenny Denham
Reported.
Wanda Stack
Hi Kenny Denham. I know you. Lol
Patrick Jonathan
No one is changing or erasing history. Pick up a book it will all still be there.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments/
Patrick Jonathan
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments/