Straw ballot on Confederate monuments fails to win Jacksonville City Council support
David Bauerlein
A proposed straw ballot in November on the future of Confederate monuments in Jacksonville met defeat Tuesday by the City Council.
Council member Al Ferraro proposed the non-binding referendum on whether voters wanted to move historic structures off city-owned property.
“All this does is put on record what the community wants us to do with our monuments, our markers, our statues, our street signs — all the different things we have that are important to our history," Ferraro said.
The council voted 13-6 against putting the question on the November ballot.
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Opponents criticized the open-ended nature of the proposed ballot language that would have asked voters if they favored moving all historic structures off city property, not just Confederate monuments.
Council member Michael Boylan said it would cost tens of millions of dollars to remove all historic structures from city-owned property and voters would reject voicing support for such a sweeping change.
"It’s not a fair opportunity for citizens to truly express their position on this issue regarding the monuments and markers that many of their neighbors find offensive," Boylan said.
The idea of the straw ballot drew support from residents who have urged council members to keep the "Tribute to the Women of the Southern Confederacy" monument in Springfield Park where it's stood since 1915.
Backers of keeping the monument in place have said repeatedly during public comments that Republican council members seeking re-election next year would pay a price at the polls if they favor moving the monument.
"My priority is not a political career," Boylan said in reference to those comments. "It's public service."
He said there is a "better path toward a mutually acceptable solution" that does not involve taking down monuments. He did not elaborate but said he looks forward to the "community discussions that will take us there.”
'Community conversation' coming on Confederate monuments
The City Council will embark this year on what it calls a "community conversation" about the Confederate monuments in forums that will have break-out discussions moderated by the University of Virginia's Institute for Engagement and Facilitation.
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund has agreed to underwrite the cost of bringing in the University of Virginia team.
A group of five Jacksonville community leaders, who have not yet been identified, will preside over the community meetings and give the City Council a recommendation on whether the Springfield Park monument should stay, be moved or remain with additional explanation.
Council member Nick Howland said the proposed straw ballot was overly broad in its question by encompassing all historic monuments and would have been a weak measure because it would not require any action.
Howland said rather than take down Confederate monuments, the city should "add to and contextualize them" so the city can "turn these monuments into lessons from history to learn from our ugly past, not erase our ugly past."
“I want to find a better way and indeed the best way to contextualize these monuments so we can be a city that is proud of what we’ve overcome to where we’ve gotten to today," he said
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Council member Brenda Priestly Jackson, who noted her ancestors on her mother's side were slaves in the Fernandina Beach area, said "this desire for context for Confederate monuments boggles my mind."
She said the statue of a white Confederate-supporting mother reading to two children was put up in 1915 a half century after the Civil War ended.
"I don't want any context," she said. "I don't want to relive the history. I'm not interested in any statute of a woman reading the Bible when teaching enslaved Africans to read was illegal."
She said Mayor Lenny Curry "made a bold move" in removing the statue of a Confederate solider in summer 2020 from what's now called James Weldon Johnson Park in downtown.
"I’m not saying I agree with him with a whole lot, but I agreed with him," she said. "He took one down and it’s incumbent on us to do our part and remove the other one."
Voting in favor of having a November straw ballot were Ferraro, Danny Becton, Randy DeFoor, Rory Diamond, Randy White and Kevin Carrico.
Voting against were Boylan, Howland, Priestly Jackson, Aaron Bowman, Matt Carlucci, LeAnna Cumber, Garrett Dennis, Terrance Freeman, Reggie Gaffney, Joyce Morgan, Sam Newby, Ju'Coby Pittman and Ron Salem.