Episcopal church leaders and former Macon mayor C Jack Ellis held a press conference Friday to talk about moving the Confederate monument in downtown Macon to Rose Hill Cemetery.
The press conference was held on the corner of Cotton Avenue and Second Street where the statue of a Confederate soldier has stood since 1879.
A petition was started in May with the intent to move the statue, and a GoFundMe account for it was set up as well.
Ellis called on Mercer University president Bill Underwood to help them in their efforts to move the statue.
Underwood is on the NewTown Macon board and their mission is to transform downtown, according to their website.
Other religious leaders said they understand it's a part of history, but at the same time argued it's a symbol of a painful part Macon's history for people who live there.
The proposed location for the statue would be at Rose Hill Cemetery, located on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, where a section for fallen Confederate soldiers is already established.
Ellis said the statue represented the "dead and gone" and said he believes it should be moved to the cemetery "where it belongs."
Ellis also said that Georgia has laws that make moving a Confederate statue legally challenging, but said he's working with state legislators to try to change those laws.
There have been previous attempts to move or take down the monument. They were all unsuccessful.
Reporter Zach Merchant will have more on this story at 5 and 6 p.m.
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