The fate of the Confederate monument in Downtown St. Augustine’s Plaza de la Constitucion will likely be decided at this Monday’s city commission meeting.
The monument was erected around 1872 in honor of Confederate soldiers who died fighting in the Civil War.
Mayor Tracy Upchurch favors moving the memorial somewhere else — like a cemetery, as he tells WJCT news partner, News4Jax.
“We’re not destroying the history, we’re clearly moving the history. But the need of our community to address racial inequality outweighs, in my mind, retaining the monument in its current location.”
The St. Augustine City Commission will consider the mayor’s request when it meets Monday morning at 10.
Upchurch said there will be time during the meeting for public comment.
A second Confederate monument in the plaza dedicated to Confederate General William Loring belongs to the state of Florida, not the city of St. Augustine.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
