MACON, Ga. — As pressure to relocate Confederate monuments grows in cities across America, a statue in downtown Macon is once again in the spotlight.
A Confederate soldier memorialized in stone stands at least 15 feet tall at the corner of Second Street and Cotton Avenue.
Friday, some said it's now time for it to go. Georgia state law could make that tough.
"This represents them going to war to keep our ancestors enslaved, so it's painful," said former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis. "It represents a part of our history that should be put in its proper space -- in museums and cemeteries, but not in the center city."
He suggested relocating it to Rose Hill Cemetery, where a section is already designated for fallen Confederate soldiers.
"We can't erase history, we're not trying to erase history," Ellis said. "We're trying to move a very offensive symbol and emblem in the middle of our center city."
Others in the group of about 10 at Friday's press conference agreed.
"These people right here, when we're talking about Confederacy, fought against the United States of America," said Benjamin Ridley.
Laura Bell wants the statue moved, too. She wasn't at the press conference but has started an online fundraiser to help make it happen.
As of Friday evening, it had raised more than $4,500.
"(The statue) doesn't need to be gone," she said. "It is part of history, but it's a part of history we don't need to glorify."
Mercer History Professor Doug Thompson says Georgia law will make relocating the monument "very difficult."
He says it now places heavy restrictions on how statues like the one in downtown Macon can be moved and requires them to be placed somewhere of similar prominence if they are moved at all, but it wasn't always so strict.
According to Thompson, the restrictions have increased in recent years.
He argues the new legislation was enacted in response to calls to take down or relocate Confederate monuments.
"Last year's law is clearly designed because there are protests against them," said Thompson.
Macon-Bibb County owns the statue and the land it sits on. County spokesperson Chris Floore says the county is open to relocating it "with the community's input" and "within state law."
He said current Macon Mayor Robert Reichert asked the county attorney's office to examine the statute to see how strict it really is.
So far, Floore says the lawyers confirm what Thompson said: it's strict.
The spokesman says, according to the county lawyers, the monument can't be moved to a cemetery or museum unless it had already been located there at some point in the past, but Ellis says he's working with a group of state legislators, including state senator David Lucas, to try and get that law changed.
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