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Fla. Removing Confederate Monuments, Symbols Faster Than Almost Any Other State

William Loring monument, etched in it is a confederate flag, in a park, with two people sitting in a bench behind it.
Mary Cobb
William Loring monument, etched in it is a confederate flag, in a park, with two people sitting in a bench behind it.

More than 100 Confederate monuments and symbols have been removed across the country this year and Florida is taking them down faster than 46 other states.

According to an analysis by BeenVerified.com, 119 Confederate monuments and symbols have been taken down amidst widespread protests since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd in May, bringing the nationwide total of monuments and symbols still standing to 1,652.

Most of them honor Confederates like Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general who was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, has the sixth most monuments.

Florida has removed 30% of its confederate monuments and symbols over the past few years, including 11 since Floyd’s death, with 57 still remaining.

Only California, Maryland and Oklahoma have removed more in recent years.

Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.

Special Projects Producer Brendan Rivers joined WJCT News in August of 2018 after several years as a reporter and then News Director at Southern Stone Communications, which owns and operates several radio stations in the Daytona Beach area.