On the legally protected Civil War veteran monument in our plaza, the former top lawyer for Florida National Guard's commanding general, Col. Elizabeth Masters (Ret.), wrote another eloquent letter, printed in the St. Augustine Record today. Her July 11, 2017 letter called out the School Board for discrimination against a trans boy, Drew Adams I applauded and agreed with retired Florida National Guard Judge Advocate General Colonel Elizabeth Masters' eloquent July 11, 2017 letter in the St. Augustine Record, "Don’t waste time, money fighting bathroom gender," stating:.
I agree with my friend, Col. Elizabeth Masters.
Our monument is different and has been fully contextualized as a result of a rigorous process with public participation.
I attended every Contextualization Advisory Committee meeting and I agree with every single word of the contextualization plaques.
We need a monument in St. Augustine to the slaves freed here by the Emancipation Proclamation. See Dr. Susan Parker's column, below.
We need a monument to the three nuns arrested here in 1916 on orders of Florida Governor, for teaching African-Americans to read, a "crime" at the time.
We need a monument for the U.S. Colored Troops, local African-American men who helped free Fort Sumter and helped free Jacksonville and helped free slaves.
We need to rename Francis Field to Francis-Robinson Field" in honor of Jackie Robinson, who spoke here in 1964 and was forbidden to play baseball there in 1946.
We don't need to remove/destroy our 1879 Ladies Memorial Association memorial to 44 local conscripted men who died during the Civil War.
We've already sat by and done nothing as grifters destroyed Echo House, Carpenter's House and other historic structures under false pretenses.
We don't need to destroy any more St. Augustine history.
We don't need to invite civil rights litigation, which the City would lose.
We don't need to indulge violent threats.
We don't need any of that, any more than a moose needs a hatrack.
Here is Col. Elizabeth Masters' column from this morning's St. Augustine Record:
Opinion
LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Memorial is different
Posted Jun 20, 2020 at 2:51 PM
St. Augustine Record
Learning that our mayor has already publicly expressed how he will vote on the issue of the Confederate Memorial, prior to the meeting being held to review it, is quite troubling. Having his views publicized for other commissioners to see certainly violates at a minimum the spirit of the Florida Sunshine Law. The time given for citizens to weigh in has been unduly brief. It is important for citizens to be heard in a meaningful way before decisions are made by elected officials. As a resident of St. Augustine, with local roots tracing back to 1595, I feel very invested in the future of our city, yet with no voice in decisions that affect me. A hasty vote is the wrong way to make important decisions.
Removing statutes glorifying confederate Civil War generals is an easy decision to make. Removing a circa 1879 memorial with protections under the penumbra of the National Park Service’s Federal National Historic Landmark Plan requires a different review. The dialogue that emerged the last time the city considered removal resulted in the addition of carefully crafted contextualized markers that now surround the memorial. These were the result of many hours of dialogue, research, and deliberation. They transformed the educational value of the memorial into a powerful vehicle for accurately evaluating history. The memorial is a wealth of historical facts that debunk any notion that the war was about “states rights” and for a “noble cause”, “not about slavery,” etc.
As many have stated in the past and will likely do so next week at the commission meeting, our memorial is a tribute to local militia members who perished, most buried far from home in unmarked graves. It was erected by their heartbroken families. I concur with this, and have ancestors commemorated, not glorified, by the monument.
Ignorance can only be changed by education. Maintain our St. Augustine history, and continue to use the contextualized memorial to teach.
Elizabeth Masters, St. Augustine