HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The Henry County Commission approved the removal of a Confederate monument located in the McDonough Square.
The monument will be removed within 60 days.
The monument, which is believed to have been built in 1910 by a local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, is in McDonough’s downtown square on land owned by the county, the county said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
More than 14,000 people signed a Change.org petition to have the monument removed.
The local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans expressed outrage at the decision, calling it an “unlawful action.” The group says it is filing a temporary restraining order and complaint against the Henry County commissioners.
Hundreds of people commented on the Henry County Government’s Facebook post announcing the monument’s removal.
During this morning’s Henry County Board of Commissioners meeting, the BOC authorized the county manager’s office and...
Posted by Henry County Government on Tuesday, 7 July 2020
In 2017, Channel 2 Action News talked to people on both sides of the debate to remove the monument. The Young Democrats of Henry County and DeKalb County said the monument was offensive. Supporters of the monument said the group needed to get a life.
There have been a number of Confederate monuments and statues that have come down in north Georgia in recent weeks.
Last month, a huge crowd cheered as crews removed a Confederate memorial from the Decatur Square. The monument was erected in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Earlier in July, a Confederate monument that stood for 107 years in Conyers was removed. County officials are talking about relocating the statue to the old cemetery in Rockdale County where there are Confederate graves.
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