Confederate monument in Decatur can be moved but not hidden
A 30-foot Confederate monument in downtown Decatur could be relocated to another visible site or placed in historical context, but it can't be destroyed or concealed, according to a DeKalb County legal opinion released Tuesday.
The DeKalb Board of Commissioners will now consider what to do about the monument after passing a resolution in October condemning the monument for glorifying the Confederacy.
The legal opinion by County Attorney O.V. Brantley concludes that the county government owns the monument and is prohibited by state law from removing it from public view. But the opinion says the monument could be moved to a cemetery, museum or other property.
The monument, an obelisk erected in 1908 outside the old county courthouse, contains an inscription praising soldiers of the Confederacy in part because they “were of a covenant keeping race.”
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About the Authors
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
