Kevin Elliott's prepared remarks for the July 15, 2020 Calloway County Fiscal Court meeting

Thank you Judge Imes and members of the Fiscal Court for hearing me today. My name is Kevin Elliott. I live in Murray and am a professor of political science at Murray State*.

I come today to urge the Fiscal Court to pass a resolution expressing its will to relocate the Confederate monument.

I’ve circulated a document that I wrote that lays out the history of this monument and the organization that put it up. But what I want to do today is lay out three reasons that anyone could accept for relocating the monument.

First, this monument brings out the worst in our community. Peaceful protestors have been assaulted, with pepper spray, and threatened with deadly violence, having a gun pointed at them. African American members of our community, simply standing on a corner, have been publicly called the most vile and disgusting term in the American vocabulary. How could this happen in the so-called Friendliest Town in America? The monument continues to be a source of deep division in the community, and the longer it stands in the court square, the worse it’s going to get.

Second, because of the tensions the monument has sparked, it’s under special police protection, and this has required paying a lot of overtime to officers guarding the monument. We’re talking about thousands of taxpayer dollars going to protect the monument at time when public budgets are strained by coronavirus. But the only reason this protection is needed is because the monument stands in the court square.

Why is the location such a big deal you might ask? Well, the courthouse stands for the power of the people of Calloway County. Of all the people. It is the seat of their power. But to many members of our community, and, I would argue, to the people who erected it, the monument stands for the idea that the power of the government belongs exclusively to the white members of the community.

Relocating the monument means rejecting that idea in favor of the ideas of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution: that we the people create the government, and it belongs to all of us, equally.

Finally, those who are genuinely concerned to preserve the monument must realize that it will never again be safe in the court square. The recent protests that have swept the country suggest that protestors may take action themselves against what they see as symbols of white supremacy. Police protection is providing a degree of expensive security today, but this cannot possibly be continued indefinitely. Relocation is the only long term way to preserve the monument.

So, how do we do it? Members of our coalition have investigated many of the most challenging issues and we are happy to make ourselves available to members of the Court or the Judge Executive to consult on them.

One concern is that the monument is listed as a military heritage object and so is subject to protection against destruction or removal by state law. We have been in contact with the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission which administers this protection, and they have made clear that they’re prepared to work with the local government. What’s needed is a plan for relocation. And we have a plan that involves relocating the monument to Bowman Cemetery here in Murray in which several Confederate veterans are buried. We have addressed issues of ownership and other practicalities in consultation with arts and cultural preservation groups. But the bottom line is that the military heritage protection does not prevent relocation for the purposes of preservation.

Another concern is that the UDC’s Murray chapter owns the monument and may oppose relocation. Yet because the monument stands on county property, it can only remain there, ultimately, if the county wants it to. The Fiscal Court granted the UDC permission to occupy its property back in 1917. But this permission can simply be rescinded, and the county can work with the UDC to preserve it in another location, like Bowman.

What’s needed now is a resolution from the Fiscal Court to set the process of relocation in motion and that directs the Judge Executive to take whatever actions are necessary to enact this relocation, including working in partnership with any or all interested parties, organizations, and government agencies. I urge you to pass such a resolution at the earliest possible date. Thank you.

Editor's note: This is not a transcript of what Elliott said during the July 15, 2020 Calloway County Fiscal Court meeting; rather, it is the speech he wrote prior to that meeting.

*Dr. Kevin Elliott is now a lecturer in ethics, politics and economics at Yale University.

The foregoing is part of a collection of correspondence to various Calloway County government officials as well as remarks made before the Calloway County Fiscal Court in 2020, which the Sentinel obtained from County Judge-Executive Kenny Imes' office.