An Open Letter to Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Dear Mayor Fox,
On June 12, 2020 KFVS-12 news interviewed a “community activist” who created a petition calling for the removal of a memorial honoring Southeast Missouri’s Confederate soldiers. In the interview Sophia Voss made a baseless claim that the statue was originally erected in 1931 near the old Mississippi River bridge on Morgan Oak street as a warning to African-American citizens traveling through the area. There is no basis for that claim whatsoever.
KFVS also interviewed “community historian” Denise Lincoln who stated, “I think that if I were African-American, bringing my family through this area, and the first thing I saw was CSA, a monument to the Confederacy, this might be a town you just keep driving through.”
I can’t help but feel that Mrs. Lincoln lacks professionalism and objectivity.
If I were an African-American traveling through Cape Girardeau the first thing I would notice is the depleted conditions of the area around the Bill Emerson bridge. If I were African-American I would “just keep driving” through Cape Girardeau because of the unusually high number of violent crimes in the area. If I were African-American I would wonder why something hasn’t been done to curb these violent acts.
Mayor Fox, you stated that you were reluctant to remove any monuments because there was a lesson that could be learned through them and if the Confederate monument is removed some might want the statue of James Ivers removed.
I would like to point out a recent development that could very well prevent the removal any of the monuments located in Iver’s Square.
The June 27, 2020 issue of the Southeast Missourian newspaper reported that the Confederate monument was defaced on the night of Thursday, June 22.
On June 26, 2020 President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order which addresses the removal and vandalism of war memorials, statues stated in part:
“These criminal acts are frequently planned and supported by agitators who have traveled across State lines to promote their own violent agenda. These radicals shamelessly attack the legitimacy of our institutions and the very rule of law itself.
Key targets in the violent extremists’ campaign against our country are public monuments, memorials, and statues. Their selection of targets reveals a deep ignorance of our history, and is indicative of a desire to indiscriminately destroy anything that honors our past and to erase from the public mind any suggestion that our past may be worth honoring, cherishing, remembering, or understanding.”
President Trump’s executive also states the penalties for local municipalities and law enforcement agencies who fail to protect historical statues and memorials:
“It is the policy of the United States, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to withhold Federal support tied to public spaces from State and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, memorials, and statues from destruction or vandalism. These jurisdictions’ recent abandonment of their law enforcement responsibilities with respect to public monuments, memorials, and statues casts doubt on their willingness to protect other public spaces and maintain the peace within them. These jurisdictions are not appropriate candidates for limited Federal funds that support public spaces.”
In short Mr Mayor, your government is already on shaky ground for contemplating to remove Cape Girardeau, Missouri’s Confederate monument to begin with. The fact that you failed to protect it from vandals makes it all but certain your city will now be denied federal grant money that has been set aside for the needs of Cape Girardeau’s law enforcement.
With rising crime and less federal funds to fight it you are creating an unsafe environment which will lead to the loss of visitors to the city of all race, creed and colors.
Please do the right thing and keep all of the monuments.
Contact Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox and tell him to keep the monument.
573-334-0854
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