On Wednesday afternoon, two small groups of petitioners stood on either side of the intersection of Washington and Main streets, gathering signatures to keep and remove the Confederate monument on the Union County Courthouse grounds.
Regina and Mandy, a mother and daughter who declined to share their surnames with the News-Times, were having coffee at PJs with Mandy’s children when they noticed the petitioners seeking the monument’s removal across the street and decided to try to get signatures to keep it.
“We just made some signs. It wasn’t a planned thing,” Regina said. “I’ve got a backbone; I’ve got to stand up. I’ve lived here for more than 40 years.”
With cardboard signs reading slogans like “Preserve our history” and “Save the statue,” Regina and Mandy stood by their car and asked passers-by and those driving past if they’d like to sign the petition. They’d gotten about 50 signatures in the hour or so they’d been gathering them, and three more signed while they spoke with a News-Times reporter.
“The statue shouldn’t make or break change in the world. Change comes from the heart, not a monument,” Mandy said. “It’s just been a landmark in El Dorado for years, and just because it’s a Confederate statue, it doesn’t mean we’re promoting racism.”
Both Mandy and Regina live in El Dorado, they said. Mandy was raised here, and is now raising her own children here.
“Tearing down a statue that’s been here for years — how would that stand for change? To me it just stands for destruction,” Mandy said. “In society, people need to be more aware of what’s going on. We’re all equal, I believe that. But slavery was years ago. Black lives matter, everyone matters — black, white, brown, rainbow.”
Regina said she spoke with the petitioners seeking the monument’s removal. She said she stated her point of view and told them she loved them and that was that. Regina and Mandy headed home after about an hour of signature gathering.
“It was a success. One signature is better than none,” Mandy said.
Danny Rone, Jake Reynolds, D’Orsay Bryant IV and Jake Smith were gathering petitions in front of the monument Wednesday. Several said they’d been there Tuesday evening as well and had gathered about 100 signatures both nights.
Reynolds said their goal in gathering signatures was to have the statue moved to a different location.
“There was no battle here. It’s a symbol of injustice in a place where justice is supposed to be served,” he said. “None of these people knew what this was or where this was a month ago.”
Rone, 32, who said he was born and raised in El Dorado, said several people had driven by and called him “boy,” a term widely used during the Jim Crow era, which Martin Luther King, Jr. referenced in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
“Racist slurs don’t really bother me. They do and they don’t,” Rone said. “It shows how ignorant the person is.”
Cam Sanford stopped to sign the petition to move the monument. He said he’d just gotten off work.
“I feel like we shouldn’t have something rooted in racism in the pride of our town, which is our downtown,” he said. “I just want it to be moved to a museum or anywhere other than downtown.”
Bryant held a sign that read “Time for change.”
“It just doesn’t belong in front of the house of justice. We can’t erase the past, but we can choose not to glorify the bloodiest part of it,” Bryant said. “This man fought for the oppression of an entire race of people, and he’s surrounded by American flags.”
Smith said he thinks it should be moved to private land or a museum.
“We don’t wish to destroy anything, or ignore history. We want to make our Black communities feel welcome and represented by their city and its government,” he said. “The statue is a wedge between our communities. We have to remove the knife so the wound can heal. Not an inch or two — completely. We can remember history without living in it.”
The Union County Quorum Court’s Monument Committee is currently exploring the legalities of the potential removal or relocation of the Confederate monument. They are also seeking public opinion.
Those who wish for the Quorum Court to consider their views on the matter should write a letter to the Union County Judge’s Office, 101 N. Washington, Suite 101, El Dorado, AR 71730. Petitions will also be accepted. Mike Loftin is the Union County Judge. The Quorum Court will vote on the issue in August.
Demonstrations and signature gathering was ongoing Thursday. At about 4 p.m., a group of about 20 demonstrators hoping to see the monument removed or relocated were at the Courthouse. Around 5, police broke up the demonstration.
This is a developing story that the News-Times will continue to report on as more information becomes available.