The fight over monuments in Florida continued this week as a Senate committee advanced legislation dubbed the “ Historical Monuments and Memorials Protection Act ”.
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It took years of advocacy to finally bring down Jacksonville’s two most prominent Confederate monuments, the last of which was removed in December , but under the bill moving through the Florida Senate, they could be put back up.
“Being in our communities, walking through our downtown areas, walking through our parks, having monuments and memorials that can remind every Floridian about where we came from, where we’re headed, I think is invaluable,” said Senate sponsor Jonathan Martin (R-Fort Myers) in the bill’s first committee hearing Monday.
The legislation would require all Confederate monuments and memorials removed since October 2020 to be put back up by the local government that removed them, or else those municipalities would run the risk of losing their arts and culture funding from the state.