WS Chronicle

A hot button topic permeating through the streets of Winston-Salem recently has been the relocation of the Confederate Monument located at Fourth and Liberty streets downtown.  Last Sunday, January 13, supporters from both sides of the topic were face to face with one another in front of the statue, in a scheduled protest.

The Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV), along with the Winston-Salem NAACP chapter, have been working in conjunction to have the statue moved for some time.  They recently released a joint statement that read:

“The Ministers’ Conference of Winston Salem and Vicinity and the Winston Salem NAACP support the work of the City of Winston Salem and the Winston Courthouse, LLC to address the important community concern, of the Confederate Monument located at Fourth and Liberty streets downtown. These statues were erected as a source of racial terrorism. The tolerance of these statues is not consistent with the spirit of diversity of Winston Salem. These statues and the racism they represent, must be eradicated immediately.

 The City of Winston Salem has advised the owner of the monument that the city will seek a court order if necessary, to have the monument removed due to concerns about public safety. It appears the course of action being pursued should result in the relocation of the monument to a more appropriate location. For that reason, the Ministers’ Conference and the NAACP are not going to engage in any protests or demonstrations at this time. However, it should be clearly noted that the Ministers’ Conference and the NAACP have communicated to the mayor and city manager that they expect the city to be vigorous in pursuing all actions possible to remove this hurtful symbol of racism and the oppression of the African-American people.”

Pastor Tembila Covington, president-elect of the conference, said the conference wants to respect everyone’s position on the matter of the statue, but chose not to participate in the protest for the safety of those involved.  Covington said she knew there were already conversations to “get something going” so they wanted to avoid any potential violent acts such as those that took place in Charlottesville, VA in 2017.

“From communications that have been ongoing from the city manager, the mayor, the NAACP and the Minister’s Conference, that have insured that what was agreed upon will bring some actionable results, which is the removal and relocation of the Confederate Monument,” said Covington.  “We are expecting to see the relocation take place by January 31 or soon thereafter.”

The large turnout for the protest says that people have begun to take notice that history cannot repeat itself, said Covington.  

“In order for that not to be repeated, we have to do something and we cannot allow people to do it alone,” she said.  “It’s not a matter of looking at it from a progressive nature, I think it’s more of a humanistic perspective.  People are not anxious to go backwards, but are anxious to see greater things ahead and the only way we will do that is together.”