Arizona NAACP Groups Push For Removal Of State’s Confederate Monuments

Rep. Bolding talks to press on Monday [NAACP Facebook photo]

Arizona’s African American leaders on Monday during a press conference called for the state’s six Confederate monuments be removed. The press conference was organized by the East Valley NAACP.

The group called on Governor Doug Ducey “to take executive action to remove Confederate memorials and monuments currently on display on taxpayer-funded property across the state, demonstrating leadership that focuses on the promise of the future – not the scars of the past.”

Arizona has small memorials around the state:

Phoenix – Arizona Confederate Veterans Monument at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery
Phoenix Confederate Veterans Monument at Wesley Bolin Memorial Park (Capitol)
Sierra Vista – Southern Arizona Veterans’ Cemetery Confederate Memorial
Apache Junction – Jefferson Davis Highway, U.S. Highway 60
Dragoon Springs – Battle of Picacho Peak Marker dedicated to Capt. Sherod Hunter’s Arizona Rangers, at the four graves of the only Confederate soldiers killed in action in Arizona

Rep. Reginald Bolding read from a letter he sent to Ducey: “The men, whose names lay on memorials, highways, and monuments fought to the death to continue the status quo of a bondage and darkness. That is not American and that is not Arizona. The state of Arizona has no business propping up symbols of intolerance and by allowing the symbols to be placed on state property assumes our government is sympathetic to these victimizers all they stood for.”

About ADI Staff Reporter 12171 Articles
Under the leadership of Editor-in -Chief Huey Freeman, our team of staff reporters bring accurate,timely, and complete news coverage.