As the unrestrained partisans of intolerance continue their war on America's past by defacing historic memorials across the United States, the twice vandalized and desecrated Confederate monument in Woodlawn Cemetery was removed from its pedestal Aug. 22, 1917 and placed in storage.
West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio ordered the monument removed from the cemetery on Aug. 21 after vandals desecrated the memorial for a second time over the weekend. The mayor said she has "lost her patience" with the ongoing issue. The monument was hauled away from the Woodlawn Cemetery the following day.
Once located within the cemetery's crossroads was a 10-foot high vertical block of marble with a Confederate battle flag - the "Stars and Bars" - etched into the memorial to the Old South.
In 1941, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the monument in Woodlawn Cemetery. For more than 70 years, the memorial kept vigil over the 20 former Confederate soldiers buried in the city's graveyard. It was the only monument placed to honor Civil War veterans in Palm Beach County.
An inscription on the monument reads, "Forever now, among the immortal dead where dust belongs to glory's dreamland, sleeps the fair Confederacy..."
The City of West Palm Beach was facing the same dilemma as Charlottesville and other cities across the South. What do you do with aging memorials to the old 19th century Confederacy in a diverse 21st century America?
While Woodlawn is a public cemetery operated by West Palm Beach, the monument is privately owned and maintained. It was dedicated on public land with the permission and approval of the city.
Supporters say the monument is sacred to the memory of the buried Confederate war dead. Opponents say it is reminder of the bad old days of slavery and succession from the Union.
In a statement released to the news media on Aug. 21, Mayor Muoio said, "We have asked them to remove their monument, they have not done that, so we are going to remove it for them. We will put it in storage for them and they can take it, do whatever they wish, but not on public property."
City staff removed the red paint from the defaced monument as part of its policy of swift response to criminal gang tagging. The main gate to the cemetery was locked late in the afternoon.
The mayor has publicly stated her belief that edifices such as the Confederate monument are symbols of hate, and wanted the sponsoring organization to voluntarily relocate the memorial. She has not denounced the illegal defacing of a Civil War veterans monument with graffiti as an act of intolerance.
One name tagged on the monument with red paint was "Antifa". Antifa is a far left-wing anarchist movement of self-described anti-fascist, anti-capitalist activists using "direct action" to achieve their goals.
One example of Antifa "direct action" was the defacing of Atlanta's Piedmont Park "Peace Memorial" last month by mistake. In their zeal to cleanse the nation of historic monuments, Antifa failed to read the inscription on the plaque.
Anarchists and rage mobs recently have defaced monuments honoring St. Junipero Serra, the Apostle of California; Christopher Columbus, George Washington, General Robert E. Lee and the official World War II memorial. Not even Abraham Lincoln's monument in Washington, D.C., has escaped the defilers of U.S. historic sites.
The West Palm Beach Police responded to the first report of Confederate monument vandalism at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 10. It was investigated as a "Criminal Damage to Property" incident. They received the second vandalism call at 4 p.m. Aug. 19, according to the police blotter.
Under state law, "Injury or Removal of a Tomb or Monument (F.S. 872.02)," vandals can be charged with a third degree felony for "willingly destroying, mutilating, defacing, injuring or removing any tomb, monument, gravesite or burial mound..."
It was never investigated if the mayor herself committed a felony by removing a private cemetery monument without the approval of the owner. State law requires the City Commission to hold a public hearing before a monument can adversely be removed from a cemetery.
To many political extremists, even a maximum $5,000 fine for a third degree felony is not an adequate deterrent to prevent their acts of vandalism. Historic monuments located outside of a cemetery have even less legal protection in Florida
The police are currently investigating the two monument vandalism incidents, but no suspects have been charged with the criminal act. Meanwhile, an historic Civil War memorial was permanently removed from its pedestal at Woodlawn Cemetery. Both the mayor and vandals achieved their objective.
'With Malice Toward None...'
As the future fate of historical monuments, made unpopular by revisions of history, is debated in cities across the nation, perhaps it would be wise for people of good will on both sides of the issue to consider the words of Abraham Lincoln during his Second Inaugural Address.
About one month before the end of the Civil War and his future martyrdom, the Great Emancipator said, "With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and for his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and all nations."
There was no such public discussion or compromise in West Palm Beach. In West Palm Beach, historic monuments are removed from public view by executive order of the mayor, in violation of state law, and with the unsolicited support of the vandals who deface them.
The fate of the Civil War monument continues to be known only to the mayor and a select few in city government three years later in the year 2020.
Hopefully, elsewhere in 21st century America, citizens will work together without malice and in the spirit of charity to resolve the issues that divide us, with peaceful compromise instead of violent confrontation and cowardly acts of lawlessness.
(c.) Davidsson. 2017
*NOTE: The article was updated in 2020. See additional articles below and in Older Posts.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
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