An effort to prevent removal of historical monuments and memorials started to advance Monday in the Senate as cities such as Jacksonville fight over Confederate statues.
The Republican-controlled Government Oversight and Accountability Committee voted 4-2 along party lines to support a bill (SB 1122), filed by Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, that would prevent local governments from relocating, removing or destroying monuments. It also could lead to civil liability for anyone who takes or damages a monument or memorial on publicly owned land.
“This is not a Confederate bill. It’s an American history bill,” Martin said.
Martin said monuments and memorials are available for people who don’t have time or money to take history in college.
Sen. Tracie Davis, a Jacksonville Democrat who voted against the bill, said statues honoring the Confederacy aren’t about the Civil War, but about “hate” during Reconstruction and “to degrade Black people.”
“This is a thinly veiled, targeted attack against my city and my constituents, especially people that look like me,” Davis said.
The measure comes after numerous controversies in recent years in Florida and other states about removing historic markers, many honoring members of the Confederacy.
In December, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan ordered the removal of a “Women of the Southland” monument that had stood as a tribute to the Confederacy in Springfield Park since 2015.
Denise Scott of Jacksonville told the committee Confederate monuments “misrepresent history” and for many are a “painful reminder” of a racist past.