Some Macon citizens are demanding the removal of a Confederate statue at Second Street and Cotton Avenue, news station WGXA reported.
»RELATED: As Confederate statues topple, groups target Decatur's monument
The movement has been sweeping through the South, including in Alabama.
A "Replace the Hate" protest was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Monday in Macon in front of the statue to advocate for its removal, according to WGXA.
"We cannot allow relics of a hateful past to be honored in our city center when we are trying to move forward as a society," protest organizers wrote on the event's Facebook page, according to the news station.
"Hitler put up all these monuments and statues to his ideology, but they didn’t leave them up,” protest co-organizer Kenneth Driggers told WGXA. “Same thing here. After slavery, we can’t leave up the symbols of hatred and hundreds of years of oppression that have shaped our history.”
Vincent Clark, who was scheduled to attend the four-hour protest Monday, told WGXA the United States is built off “we the people” making the decisions. He told the news station it is up to the community to keep the country moving forward.
A GoFundMe was created to pay for the statue's removal, according to WGXA. It has raised nearly $3,100 in three days, with the overall goal of $8,000, the news station reported.
Laura Bell, who created the fundraiser, told WGXA she wanted to help with the cause with the spotlight on racial injustice.
"I thought, well, I could do that," Bell told the Macon station.
WGXA reached out to Macon-Bibb County. Here is the statement WGXA received:
“The state prohibits the removal of these types of monuments, and strictly limits where they can be moved to. Our Attorney’s Office is reviewing the state law to determine what (is) possible, and we would most definitely want to talk with the community about moving forward.”
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