A group seeking to replace a Fort Myers statue of Robert E. Lee with a monument "to recognize the experience of millions of Americans who endured generations of slavery and racial segregation" will be at this afternoon's city council meeting.
In addition to removing the half-century-old bust from public view, members of Showing Up for Racial Justice want the city to officially denounce "its history of racial segregation and enforcement of Jim Crow era laws, including allowing this statue to be displayed as a symbol of racial oppression."
In a statement, the group wrote, "This statue is a relic of an ugly past. It is time for our community to look forward."
The Monroe Street bust was dedicated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1966, the same year the county school district began its long, painful desegregation by adding black teachers to its junior and senior high schools. The student body remained divided until black-only Dunbar High School closed in 1969; and it wasn't until 1999 that the federally imposed court order to desegregate Lee Schools was lifted and the district declared "unitary."
The council meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. in city hall, 2200 Second St., Fort Myers.