100 signatures reached
To: Lake View Cemetery Association: Julie Lundquist, Jeffrey Detroit, Craig Lohr, George Nemeth, Jr., Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant, Mayor Jenny Durkan, Governor Jay Inslee
Removal of United Confederate Veterans Memorial in Seattle's Capitol Hill Lake View Cemetery
I'm calling on the owners of the Lake View Cemetery Association, Governor Jay Inslee, Mayor Jenny Durkan, and Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant for the removal of the United Confederate Veterans Memorial in Volunteer Park's Lake View Cemetery (Seattle).
Why is this important?
Out of America’s 1700 structures romanticizing the brutality of slavery and visibly reinforcing white supremacy myths, this monument is the 6th Most Unwanted structure according to the Independent Media Institute's Make It Right Project.
This anti-Black memorial is on private property, which has created several city-wide challenges for it to be removed. This is not the first time we – the People of Seattle – have demanded this statue be removed. This petition has been resurrected and modified from a 2017 petition by Ian S. There was also a 2015 petition for this same demand. Let’s make sure this is the last petition to remove this symbol of hatred towards Black empowerment.
The removal of this memorial will continue to position Seattle and the Capitol Hill on the right side of history during the Black Lives Matter movement.
Given our current political climate and fight for justice and well being of Black Lives, it is imperative that this symbol of white supremacy be removed immediately along with so many other racist statues that are being removed across the U.S. and the world!
United Confederate Veterans Memorial serves no purpose other than to perpetuate divisiveness and hate throughout Seattle and stands as a testament of our local government's continued complicity in uplifting white voices and oppressing Black voices in Seattle and King County.
THE ERA OF SEATTLE GLORIFYING SYMBOLS OF SLAVERY IS OVER.
IT'S TIME TO TAKE WHITE SUPREMACY OFF ITS PEDESTAL.
BLACK PEOPLES' SAFETY AND HUMANITY CANNOT WAIT.
THE TIME FOR JUSTICE IS NOW.
As leaders of our great city and state, your inaction on the statue's removal will continue to champion hatred and violence against Black Lives. The fact that it still stands is a testament to Seattle and Washington State’s spineless white liberalism. If it continues to stay, it will continue to represent a deplorable mark on Seattle’s history during this historic pro-Black movement in America.
ABOUT THE MEMORIAL
Erected in 1926 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the United Confederate Veterans’ Memorial was built to memorialize and commemorate the racial hate that ripped our country in two. It seeks to remind everyone that - despite losing a war - white supremacy is still alive and revered as an appropriate trait for white Americans to possess.
The granite was intentionally shipped from Georgia's racist-monument Stone Mountain after the rebirth of the KKK in the early part of the 20th Century. This monument is not a gravestone and does not represent any particular person or family lost during the Civil War.
For more local and national readings and context on this memorial please visit https://tinyurl.com/ybb36naw