GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — The Gaston County Board of Commissioners canceled a meeting Tuesday because of a possible COVID-19 case, but community leaders still showed up to protest a controversial Confederate monument in front of the county courthouse.
Protesters spoke in support of a lawsuit filed against the county and commissioners for not removing the monument and pushed for it to be placed in storage until someone takes it from the county.
The board did not say when or if the meeting will be rescheduled, but the new chairman said he wants a decision made on the monument soon.
Tom Keigher’s first motions on the board were to approve a few minor agenda items, but now he said he is ready to act on the budget and two major issues.
“I just look forward to trying to rectify some of the controversy that has gone on over the last year being COVID. Being the Confederate Monument,” he said.
[ PAST COVERAGE: Gaston County residents find flyers in yards supporting controversial statue ]
Keigher presided over the Council of Understanding, a board of residents assembled to recommend to commissioners if the statue should stay or be moved.
He voted to have the statue moved and Monday he said he would prefer to have it given to a group and removed from in front of the county courthouse.
The statue was given to the county over 100 years ago from the Daughters of Confederate Veterans. It became the center of an intense and very public back and forth after the killing of George Floyd when so many monuments like it were being removed.
The Council of Understanding recommended that commissioners give the monument to a group that will move it somewhere else. But when a deal with Sons of Confederate Veterans fell through, commissioners voted to keep it.
[ PAST COVERAGE: Confederate statue at Gaston County courthouse to stay, for now ]
They have taken no public action on the matter in four months. Keigher wants it revisited.
“It’s gonna take four commissioners to agree to gift that to an organization,” Keigher said.
Jamal Gillispie is head of Gaston County Freedom Fighters. They, along with other groups, have reignited efforts saying removing the monument is the right thing.
“It is going to help embody that this county will be for all people,” Gillispie said.
Gillispie said he’s encouraged knowing Keigher voted twice to remove the monument.
Keigher wouldn’t say much more about the topic because there is a lawsuit against commissioners to have the monument removed.
Channel 9 asked if he could have a vote before this case goes before a judge. He told us he couldn’t say.
Lawsuit filed to remove Confederate statue in Gaston County
A lawsuit was filed to remove a Confederate statue from the Gaston County Courthouse.
“Signifies a lot of pain, a lot of hurt,” plaintiff William Gardin said.
[Gaston County residents find flyers in yards supporting controversial statue]
Gardin is a youth pastor in Gaston County, president of the local chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a Black man who said he is offended by the 35-foot monument.
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The group that filed the suit also includes the NAACP, the National Association for Black Veterans, Eta Mu Lambda and three residents of Gaston County.
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