'Now is the time': Protesters pressure Lafayette supervisors to move Confederate monument
OXFORD • Dozens of Lafayette County residents gathered under the shadow of an embattled Confederate monument in the heart of the Oxford Square on Monday morning to again demand that the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors relocate the monument.
The event, named the “Labor of Love Rally,” had three local veterans and a prominent Oxford business owner call for the relocation of the monument. The proponents argued that the statue’s removal would foster racial reconciliation and spark needed unity and change in the community.
Jerry Townsend, a retired major of the U.S. Air Force, said that the monument should be moved because of what it signifies to Black residents in the town and that if the “South had had its way in the Confederacy,” he would still be a slave.
“I love this country, and I love Oxford and Lafayette county,” Townsend said. “The Confederate statue, its meaning and purpose, is no different than the knee on the neck of George Floyd. Our community and county is better than this. America is better than this.”
Read more: https://www.djournal.com/news/local/now-is-the-time-protesters-pressure-lafayette-supervisors-to-move-confederate-monument/article_c36a2826-8b0e-52f5-bc86-8184cc8389c0.html
(Tupelo Daily Journal)