The fate of a statue on the Limestone County Courthouse grounds has made it back into local conversation after a protest and counterprotest were organized for Saturday in Athens.

On one side of Market Street, protestors held up signs and waved a “Black Lives Matter” flag in support of the removal of a Confederate monument that has stood on the courthouse grounds since the early 1900s, saying it honors those who promoted racism and slavery. On the other side, a group of counterprotesters held signs and waved flags in support of the statue staying because they believed it honors Confederate veterans who never made it home from the war.

In between, there was talk of finding common ground and making sure history was not erased.

“I just want this statue to be where it belongs — in the history museum, in a Civil War cemetery, somewhere where it deserves to be, not in front of where we’re supposed to get justice for our people,” Diana Isom, who organized the protest, said.

Isom said she decided to organize the protest after watching the movie “Hidden Figures” at a recent Limestone Democrats event. The movie follows the story of three Black women working at NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. Isom said even though segregation is less of an issue now than it was then, she believes monuments like the Confederate statue at the courthouse serve as a reminder that Black Americans will not see equal justice in America.

The statue features a note that it is for the “Confederate Soldiers of Limestone County,” erected by their survivors. A poem on one side of the statue reads, “The knightliest of the knightly race, who since the days of old, have kept the lamps of chivalry, alight in hearts of gold.” Another side reads, “Ennobled by triumph, exalted by defeat.”

It is the second statue placed on the courthouse grounds in memory of fallen Confederate soldiers. The first statue featured a soldier with his head tilted downward, which many at the time said reminded them too much of the Confederacy’s recent defeat.

However, not everyone agrees with Isom’s view, as evident by the similarly sized crowd of counterprotesters who also organized a gathering. Zack Magnusson, who stood with the counterprotesters, said he was there because, as a descendant of not one but seven Confederate soldiers, he viewed the statue as a monument to his ancestors, not what they may have believed.

“We’re here because we have the opposite view from them,” Magnusson said of the protesters. “They think this monument represents white supremacy and all these terrible things, and they think it should go away, and we don’t believe that. … It’s a soldiers’ memorial. It represents men who answered the call of their state and went to defend it from invasion.”

Travis Jackson, who served five years in the Army, including 15 months in Iraq, said he does believe the monument remaining on the courthouse grounds is another reminder that white supremacy continues in America. Jackson traveled from Montgomery to Athens to support Isom’s protest.

“When I think of a veteran, I think of representing their country. That means accepting everybody for who they are, regardless of their skin color,” he said. “Sadly, you don’t see that because, due to the Confederacy, they have brainwashed many Americans to think the only veterans that matter are the Confederate veterans.”

Garth Lovvorn, who stood with the counterprotesters, noted there are monuments all over The Square to represent the veterans from a multitude of wars, not just the Civil War.

“You walk around The Square, you see the Revolutionary War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan, Vietnam, Civil War, World War I, World War II, fallen police officers, firemen — they are all memorials to veterans who did not come home to their loved ones,” Lovvorn said.

He said he wants to find common ground by adding monuments to the courthouse grounds, such as a monument to the 110th United States Colored Infantry Regiment. Doing so, he said, could also mean a tourist opportunity, as Athens could join other cities in Alabama as part of a civil rights trail that includes Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham.

Lovvorn believes having Limestone County on a trail would give history enthusiasts a chance to learn about the Colored Infantry and Confederate soldiers and about Judge James E. Horton, a white judge who set aside a guilty verdict for one of the Scottsboro Boys, nine Black youth who were falsely accused of raping two white women in the 1930s. Limestone County unveiled a statue in 2017 honoring Horton on the west side of the courthouse.

Isom also said she’d be in favor of new monuments on the courthouse grounds, but for her and those who gathered with her Saturday, it won’t be enough until the Confederate statue is relocated.

“We don’t need to honor that, especially at a place that’s supposed to conduct equal justice,” Remus Bowden said. “How can you expect to get a fair shake out of a courthouse that’s paying tribute to Confederate principles right outside its doorsteps?”

Bowden has regularly attended and organized protests over the last year, including weekly protests to have a Confederate statue removed from the Madison County Courthouse grounds. He traveled to Athens on Saturday to support Isom and similar measures being taken in Limestone County.

“I fight against racism,” he said. “That’s my call. That’s what I do.”

Isom emphasized that she doesn’t want the statue defaced or for history to be erased.

“I understand this is history,” she said. “Every single child, every single teenager, learns history. Even in college, I was required to take World History. … Everyone has to learn it. Of course, they have to learn it. But it should not be in a place where justice should be served.”

She gave a similar statement to commissioners at a Limestone County Commission meeting Monday, telling them that statues at the courthouse don’t have to be of Black men, just of good men.

“Please think deeply about this and understand where I’m coming from — where we are coming from,” she said. “All I want is Limestone County to be a place where everyone is accepted.”

She admitted to commissioners that it’s intimidating to speak before them or to walk past the statue on her way to and from the courthouse, but she planned to continue hosting protests every other Saturday and appearing at each commission meeting until the statue was removed.

A legal matter

While some monuments on The Square could legally be torn down or relocated by the county, the Confederate statue is protected by the 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. The act makes it a crime for monuments older than 40 years to be disturbed.

The Limestone County Commission has previously relied on that law regarding the monument being on courthouse grounds. Commissioners have encouraged constituents on either side of the matter to continue voicing their opinions and suggestions, but current legislation supports the statue staying, and Commission Chairman Collin Daly has said his oath as an elected official was to uphold the law.

“If the legislature changes on the law, we’ll worry about that when it comes around,” he said in a meeting last June.

That change could be coming soon, as two members of the Alabama House of Representatives have prefiled a bill to repeal the Memorial Preservation Act. House Bill 8 would also allow for counties and municipalities to remove historical monuments in their jurisdiction but would require ownership to be transferred to the Department of Archives and History or the Alabama Historical Commission for public display.

HB-8 was introduced by Reps. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, and Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville. The bill is set to be read today for the first time and referred to the state House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee.

Givan and Daniels have also prefiled a bill that would require all public schools to include a semester-long course in Black American history in their curriculums.