by Phillip M. Bailey, @phillipmbailey –
Mayor Greg Fischer and University of Louisville President James Ramsey announced Friday they are removing the 121-year-old Confederate monument on the Belknap campus. Marty Pearl, Special to CJ
A Republican candidate for Congress wants to stop Mayor Greg Fischer and University of Louisville President James Ramsey from removing the controversial Confederate monument from the school’s campus.
UPDATED | Judge issues order to block Confederate monument’s removal
“It is a political version of book burning,” Everett Corley, a real estate agent, said in an interview Sunday evening. “And the fact is, I’m not in favor of book burning.”
Corley said he will be filing a temporary restraining order in Jefferson Circuit Court on Monday against Fischer that will demand he cease and desist from any efforts to take down the memorial.
The memorial sits across from the Speed Art Museum on Third Street on city-owned property.
Corley said the restraining order will be on the grounds of irreparable harm to himself and the community.
“This will, in our view, detract and damage the entire cultural history of Louisville and its residents,” he said.
Fischer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The mayor joined Ramsey and other U of L officials last Friday to announce the 121-year-old monument’s removal.
“The stain of slavery and racism that this monument represents for many, many people has no place in a compassionate, forward-thinking city,” Fischer said Friday.
For years, the Confederate monument has been a point of contention on U of L’s Belknap campus, prompting student protests on several occasions.
In 2002, the university’s board of trustees unanimously approved a $2 million plan to rename the area surrounding the monument as Freedom Park, honoring Louisville civil rights leaders.
The decision to remove the memorial honoring “our Confederate dead” has not been without its detractors, however.
Some preservationists have said that city and university officials are trying to erase history.
Corley, a U of L alumni, said the decision is “a politics of distraction” given the university’s several scandals. He is running in a three-way primary against fellow Republicans Bob DeVore and Harold Bratcher.
The winner will face Democratic incumbent John Yarmuth in the general election.
Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at (502) 582-4475 or [email protected]
