Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DANVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The monument would be erected by the Heritage Preservation Association with private donations on the grounds of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History. The museum's building was the so-called last capitol of the Confederacy, used by the government of the Confederate States of America near the end of the Civil War.
In a presentation to City Council, longtime Danville civil rights activist James Peters said the city should not alienate its black citizens.
He submitted letters objecting to the monument from the local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Danville Voters League, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and the Blanks Club, a civic-social organization.
``We have let our feelings be known, and if push comes to shove we'll try to do it by legal means to prevent it from happening,'' said Peters, a Danville funeral director.
Peters noted that council members open each meeting by pledging allegiance to the U.S. flag.
``Now, why would you turn around that and recognize a group that represented treason?'' he asked.
Heritage Preservation Association President Wayne Byrd said the monument would commemorate the last capitol of the Confederacy and is not intended as a political statement.
The monument stems from a year-old controversy that began when protests by some Danville residents led to the removal of a Confederate flag from a flagpole outside the museum last summer.
City Council last month authorized the Heritage Preservation Association to design the monument for the grounds of the city-owned museum. The association proposed a 7-foot obelisk topped with a 15-foot flagpole.
The City Council has not yet voted on the monument.
by CNB