SPLC Action Fund Responds to Neshoba Co. Board of Supervisors Decision to Keep Confederate Monument

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. – Today, the Neshoba County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to keep the Confederate monument located in front of the courthouse despite pleas from the community to remove it. 

The following statement is from SPLC Action Fund Mississippi Policy Director Brandon Jones:

“Our public buildings, landmarks and institutions should not conceal the truth about our shared history, and should not be used as a backdrop to glorify traitors to the United States. Confederate monuments are symbols of white supremacy. They continue to further the false narrative that the Civil War was fought for something other than to keep Black people enslaved. 

“While we hoped for a different outcome on behalf of the community and the Black Empowerment Organization (BEO), their advocacy has begun a long overdue conversation about the racial inequities that persist in Philadelphia and across the state.

“The SPLC Action Fund is committed to removing these symbols from public lands and will continue to support BEO in its efforts in the community.”

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The SPLC does not support erasing history, nor the defacing and/or destruction of any historic artifact. Learn about Confederate symbols on public land in the SPLC’s “Whose Heritage?” report.

In 2018, the SPLC released an updated version of its Whose Heritage? report, identifying nearly 1,800 Confederate monuments, parks, schools, state holidays and other symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces across the South and the nation. 

In Mississippi alone, 146 Confederate symbols remain on public land; 52 of those symbols are monuments. To date, at least 4 Mississippi counties have voluntarily removed Confederate monuments away from courthouses.