Death threats and the KKK: a monumental battle

Ever since Camille Bennett began her campaign to relocate a Confederate statue in her hometown of Florence, Alabama, she has seen it all: threats, violent online messages and intimidation attempts.

“There's one that stands out in my mind. A minister, a local minister said that if I keep running my mouth, it will need to be wired shut and I'll be drinking through a straw. So, you know, really, really a physical threat.”

But her most harrowing experience, she says, occurred in 2017, when five Ku Klux Klansmen in hoods and robes heckled her at an event.

“I was terrified, I wanted to leave…”

But for those like Bennett committed to removing Confederate symbols, intimidation, as frightening as it can be, isn't the only obstacle - and sometimes isn’t even the most powerful.

While many high-profile statues have come down, many others are still standing thanks to the political maneuverings of those who want the symbols to remain, and have succeeded, at least for now, through obscure laws or threats of lawsuits.

It’s a tangled web that has so far stymied Bennett – whose mission for years has been to get the city of Florence to confront the meaning of Eternal Vigil, the white marble statue of a nameless Confederate private that stands in front of the county courthouse.

"The Civil War was about slavery. So southerners were fighting to keep Black people enslaved, and it's as simple as that. Confederate monuments commemorate and celebrate the Civil War. So you put the two together and what you have are shrines to white supremacy."

First, she proposed to erect next to the monument a statue of Dred Scott, who lived in Florence for 10 years in the 1800s and whose effort as an enslaved man to gain freedom led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling.

But Lauderdale county – where Florence is located - turned her down.

She then called for relocating Eternal Vigil to a Confederate cemetery less than a mile from the courthouse.

"We're not asking to demolish the statue. But we came up with a compromise."

But the Lauderdale County Commission's five members, all white Republican men, refused, citing a 2017 state law prohibiting the removal or relocation of monuments.

That law is part of a larger effort by GOP lawmakers in several Southern states to prevent the removal of statues following a nationwide movement to topple Confederate monuments.

Still, Bennett kept fighting. Last summer she and her supporters began marching in Florence to demand the statue’s relocation.

By July, three Lauderdale County residents attempted to counter her actions by filing a civil lawsuit demanding the statue stay in place.

Then, in October, the pendulum swung back in Bennett’s favor when the Florence City Council unanimously passed a resolution backing the relocation of the statue to the cemetery.

But because the statue sits on county property, the city asked the county for permission to remove it – which the county refuses to do.

Josh Dodd, chairman of the Lauderdale County Republican Party, who is white, is among those opposed to moving Eternal Vigil, saying (quote), "It's very important to a lot of people to remember the past and to remember those who died on both sides."

In yet another twist, the mayor of Florence, Andy Betterton, was elected in November 2020 on a promise to relocate the statue.

But now Betterton says his hands are tied because of the still unresolved civil lawsuit.

During a public meeting filmed by Reuters, Betterton read aloud a letter from Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall which threatened to arrest any elected official who removed a historic monument or statue.

BETTERTON, SPEAKING IN COURT: "And he went on to say that we are violating the oath of office and, yes, go to jail, and need to hire an attorney. I just don't have the money to hire an attorney to defend me against something like that."

Betterton declined to be interviewed by Reuters. In a statement, he said the lawsuit has constrained him, but added (quote), "The removal and relocation of the statue is definitely one of my priorities, and I feel optimistic that we will see it removed."

And Bennett, frustrated by all the political roadblocks, is still fighting: "One way or the other, we will prevail. What we do know is we'll never stop."