Confederate heritage group Daughters of the Confederacy is going against an Alabama county’s lawsuit that may lead to the takedown of a rebel monument.
The monument is located in front of the local county courthouse in the middle of Tuskegee, Alabama–which is 97% Black.
The U.S. News & World Report reported that Jay Hinton, an attorney for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, says the group wants the keep the monument standing.
“All of those members have ancestors who are honored by that monument,” he said.
Macon County requested the court to allow them to take down the memorial, which has stood for 115 years. It has been the subject of protests and attempts for removal for many decades.
Macon County Commission’s suit is against the local and state chapters of the Confederate heritage and argues that the county owns the property where the statue is located and requests the title to the plot.
The county is willing to negotiate with the group and says if a member of the group comes forward, they could settle and give the monument to them.
NBC News reports civil rights lawyer Fred Gray, who also represented Rosa Parks in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, filed the complaint in this case. He has been trying to locate members of the Tuskegee chapter of the Confederacy group but has found only one member.
