Petition to remove statue of Jefferson Davis from the state capitol's rotunda

This just in from the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights:

Dear Civil Rights Leaders and Advocates,

On August 5 at 1 pm (Eastern Daylight Time), the Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission will meet to discuss whether to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the Kentucky State Capitol. This government meeting is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Berry Hill Mansion, 700 Louisville Rd, Frankfort, KY 40601. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights urges the public to attend this meeting and ask for the statue to be relocated to a History Center. Under consideration apparently is the state History Center in Frankfort, Ky., a few blocks from the capitol. 

Meanwhile, The Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission is taking public comments about relocating the Jefferson Davis (Confederate president) statue from the Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda to help make the decision. You only have until July 29 to make your comments, according to the advisory commission. The Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission wants to know your wishes.

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Use the form available at this webpage to submit your comment for the KY Historic Properties Advisory Commission to consider:
https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/HistoricProperties/Comment

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Please click on this boxed link (above) and urge that body to relocate the statue out of the capitol rotunda, which largely displays statues and monuments for the purpose of venerating and honoring them and the ideals of Kentucky. Below in the following paragraph is sample language you may copy and paste onto the online form if you wish. Or, use your own language, of course. Or you may simply write something like: Remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the Capitol and relocate it to a History Center.

Here is more detailed language below:

Please relocate the Jefferson Davis statue out of the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda. It should not be on display in a place designed to honor and venerate, but in a place designed to educate, such as a history center or museum. In its current location in the Capitol, it sends dangerous messages to segments of the population, and it appears to give government approval to the Confederacy. The Confederacy to most symbolizes support for the institution of slavery and oppression. It stands for a group that sought to tear apart the United States of America. You surely must relocate this statue. If South Carolina can take down the Confederate Flag, Kentucky, which was the first state in the south to have a Civil Rights Act, a Fair Housing Act, and a state Human Rights Commission, can relocate the Jefferson Davis statue to an appropriate venue. Statues and monuments in places of honor such as in the capitol should recall Kentucky's and the nation's highest ideals.

On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, you can see this editorial by Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Executive Director John J. Johnson in the Courier-Journal newspaper. There are other opinion editorials about the statue on the editorial page today as well.

Statues of many others deserve placement in rotunda By John J. Johnson The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights calls for the state government to remove the memorial statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda. The appropriate location for the statue is not in a high place of honor in the very seat of our state government, but in a museum, history center, or educational exhibit. This is not a new issue. The statue has stood far too long as an affront to many who visit our state capitol. People have sought its removal. But, the recent horrible murders in Charleston, S.C., allegedly motivated by racial hatred, compel us, once again, to search the state and national moral conscience. Any laudatory display of Confederate symbols by state and local government entities carries the suggestion of approval by government. This is wrong. It is an insult to many and sends dangerous messages to others. Confederate symbols such as statues, flags and monuments represent slavery, hatred, racial bigotry, and segregation. When displayed in government locations of honor, they glorify the behaviors of human domination, lynching, whipping, castration, branding, raping, burning and other forms of unspeakable torture, too numerous, egregious, and despicable to mention. Instead, monuments of state pride should honor leaders and accomplishments that reflect the high ideals of Kentucky and America. History is filled with Kentuckians of different races, female and male, who have made historic contributions to the collective good of society and who are worthy of consideration for a place of honor in the capitol rotunda. Kentucky was the first state in the south to have a state human rights commission (1960). It was the first state in the south to pass a state civil rights act (1966).It was the first state in the south to pass a fair housing law (1968). Let Kentucky take its place again as a leader of freedom and move the Davis statue to a history center or museum where people may view it in an appropriate context. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights is the state government authority that enforces the laws that make discrimination illegal. John J. Johnson is executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. He coordinated demonstrations for removal of the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Capitol grounds during his previous tenure as Chief of Executive Operations and deputy director at the National Headquarters of the NAACP in Baltimore, Md.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Today, please click on the above link in and submit your request to remove the Davis statue from the capitol and place it somewhere else.

On behalf of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights:

Executive Director John Johnson
Commission Chair George Stinson, 4th District, of Louisville, Ky.
Commissioner Robert Asseo, 6th District 
Commissioner Duane Bonifer, 3rd District
Commissioner Richard Brown, 2nd District of Owensboro, Ky. 
Commissioner Samuel Coleman, Jr., State-at-Large of Middlesboro, Ky. 
Commissioner Henry Curtis, 5th District, of Louisville, Ky. 
Commissioner Danny Everett, state at large, of Lexington, Ky.
Commissioner Carol Jackson, 7th District, of Ashland, Ky.
Commissioner Sandra Moore, State-at-Large, of Richmond, Ky.
Commissioner Doris Clark-Sarr, State-at-Large, Murray, Ky.
Commissioner Timothy Thomas, 1st District, of Madisonville, Ky.
The staff members of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights

Sincerely,

Victoria Stephens
Communications Director and Information Officer
502.641.0760
Kentucky Commission on Human Rights
332 W Broadway, Suite 1400
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Headquarters: 800.292.5566