A Change.org petition to remove a Confederate statue in the city of McDonough's downtown square had more than 10,500 signatures as of Friday morning.
The petition calls for the monument, which was erected in 1910 across the street from the Henry County Courthouse, to be torn down “or, at the very least, removed to a private site, off of public property.
“McDonough is a city that is prospering and looking to innovate, advance and expand,” the petition says. “In order for the city to succeed moving forward, it must shed this shameful relic of a bygone era.”
The McDonough statue is the latest in metro Atlanta to come under scrutiny as the nation examines the impact of systemic racism and the role such monuments play in that foundation.
The push has been heightened by protests focused on police brutality against African Americans, including the May death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and last weekend's fatal shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta.
On Thursday, a 30-foot obelisk to the Confederacy was taken down in Decatur's downtown square in DeKalb County. It was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and had stood for 112 years.
In a post on its website about the McDonough statue, leaders of the city said they have not had a formal request to take action on the monument.
“It has been brought to our attention that there have been several recent discussions among citizens relative to the monument on the square,” the post read. “At this time, no requests or documents have been presented to the mayor and council. If the need for official discussion should arise, it would take place at a formal meeting of mayor and council.”
This is not the first time the removal of the statue has come up. In 2017, members of the Young Democrats of Henry County and DeKalb County protested the monument. They argued that the monument was offensive and a symbol of oppression.
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