Confederate monument debate heats up at August regular session
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Public comments at a recent Randolph County regular session were once again dominated by discussion about the Confederate monument, which elicited a response by County Chairperson Darrell Frye.
"I'm going to say this," Frye said, following brief applause for a speaker who challenged the assertion that the majority of county residents are in support of keeping the monument.
"100% of the citizens of this county have access to every service we provide. 100% irregardless of race, creed, or color. Where they're social services, public health, our schools...every service that this county provides is available to every living citizen in this county."
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Frye's comments echo his past sentiments concerning the Randolph County Commissioners' decision to keep the Confederate Monument on the grounds of the historic courthouse.
"This board has voted, taken action, as we were asked to do on a number of times by both sides of this issue, and we did that," Frye said.
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While Frye defends the board, the decision has drawn both criticism and a measure of support in the following months.
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"This board has contended more than once that 90% of Randolph County voters casted their votes for Donald Trump," said speaker Franklin Suggs, who questioned the assumption that supporting Donald Trump meant supporting the monument.
"To conflate voting with support for the monument is quite a reach," Suggs said
The public comments section of each regular session is 15 minutes. During that time community members stepped forward to give their opinion about the monument and the decision to keep it.
Dean Brown, another speaker compared the monument controversy to abortion, which became a topic in the county earlier in the year following a vote by Randolph County's board to declare the county a sanctuary for life.
"Something that I've noticed, those that are in favor of abortion, they don't come back every month and moan and groan about the vote [not going] their way," Brown said.
"Are they better character and better class? Those that are against the memorial, come back every month, they've got another argument. The board voted, they were asked to vote, and they voted. Folks this is over, let's be done with it, let's move on."
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A number of those who oppose the monument's presence believe it isn't over. Dr. Chuck Egerton, who also spoke at the regular session described it as "an issue that will continue until we've ended white supremacy in Randolph County."
"That statue stands for a lie in our county, our county has been peaceful," Egerton said adding that Randolph County was part of a handful with a history of opposing the Confederacy. "The statue stands as a lie for what the true history is."
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Others disagreed.
"[If] this monument is removed will it make it a better world to live in is it going to make this a better society, I doubt it very much," said speaker Greg Auman.
Randolph NAACP President Chip Foust ended the monument discussion.
"I don't, for one second, want us to diminish or act like that wasn't a big deal, or it wasn't an atrocity because it was," Foust said, in reference to Randolph County's history with the American slave trade.
"If you want to talk to [county commissioners] they have to come to this place and you have to walk past that monument to do it, that is wrong," Foust said.
This article originally appeared on The Courier-Tribune: Confederate monuments supporters detractors exchange words
