ATLANTA — The Georgia House narrowly defeated a bill Tuesday that sought to protect Confederate monuments, a proposal that opponents said glorified the South’s defense of slavery in the Civil War.
The legislation would have allowed anyone to sue over the removal or damage of monuments, and groups such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans would have been able to continue publicly displaying monuments after local governments voted to relocate them.
Several Georgia cities have taken down Confederate monuments in recent years, often in response to repeated vandalism. Those monuments are then moved or put in storage.
Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, said legislators should be embarrassed for celebrating the history of slavery.
“We should all be saddened and ashamed of ourselves. We’re not talking about a war. We’re talking about centuries of mass murder,” Miller said. “We are still waging wars with the ghosts of the past and a war that was lost — lost for the purpose of treating men and women and babies as human beings.”
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said the bill was a way to remember soldiers who died in wars and are memorialized in stone.
“You can’t deny history. You need to know where your history is, so you’d never repeat the mistakes,” Powell said. “There’s nothing I know of that’s a greater sin than the institution of slavery. If you don’t want the monuments, here’s a pathway to move them.”
Critics of Senate Bill 175 objected to giving any individual or group the right to sue over monuments, potentially leading to costly court fights and delays while monuments remain on display. Local governments would have been liable for damages if they lost those lawsuits.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled last year that Gwinnett County had sovereign immunity against a lawsuit by the Sons of Confederate Veterans over the removal of a monument in downtown Lawrenceville.
The legislation also would have required local governments to give 90 days’ notice before they remove or relocate a monument. During that time, anyone could petition to take possession of the monument for public display.
Democrats universally opposed the bill, and it fell short because a handful of Republicans voted no or skipped the vote. SB 175 failed 89-73, two votes fewer than a majority needed for it to pass in the 180-seat House.
“These Confederate monuments are not objects of history. They are racist propaganda carved into stone,” said Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D-Smyrna. “Working families of Georgia are not interested in statues of old racists and do not care about sanctifying national flags of the Confederacy. They want a government that works for them now, in today’s day and age.”
A state law passed in 2019 makes it difficult for local governments to relocate or remove monuments but allows “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection, and interpretation” of monuments.
Monuments can also be moved by judges when they become public nuisances or a threat to public safety.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
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Type of Story: News
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