Panel votes to recommend immediate removal of Cape's Confederate marker

By an 8-0 vote, the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) voted Tuesday for immediate removal and storage of the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) monument in Ivers Square.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox requested the HPC to give direction to the City Council, which is expected to take up the matter at its next session July 6.

Since the HPC considered the meeting a work session, no comment period was offered to the 20 people who attended.

Steven Hoffman, coordinator of Southeast Missouri State University’s historic preservation program, who had previously advocated for the 12 1/2 ton monument to remain because of what he called Cape Girardeau’s “complicated history,” had a change of heart during his expert remarks to the commission.

Hoffman suggested the marker, originally placed in 1931 along Morgan Oak Street near the old Cape Girardeau bridge and moved to its current location in 1995, be stored after removal with an effort made to find a permanent home for the 14 1/2 foot tall memorial.

“Let’s be clear that from a preservation perspective, the (C.S.A.) marker has lost its historical integrity because it was moved (in 1995),” Hoffman said.

Brianna DeWitt, HPC chairwoman, read from a National Trust for Historic Preservation article, which suggested African Americans look at Confederate markers and see embedded racism and an advancement of white supremacy.

“I love history,” DeWitt said, “but it’s a mistake to allow (the monument) to remain.”

Commission member Bonnie Kipper also advocated removal but not destruction.

“I recently learned the monument was not to honor (Confederate) dead,” Kipper said, “but was instead erected as a celebration by the United Daughters of the Confederacy,” a group Kipper called “elitist.”

Fellow commissioner Mark Bliss echoed those comments.

“(The monument) was not erected to honor the dead but is a reminder of Jim Crow and segregation,” said Bliss, who added that the monument will leave the “wrong impression” on those coming to the new City Hall.

Construction recently began next to Ivers Square to relocate most of Cape Girardeau’s city government offices to the old Common Pleas Courthouse.

Commissioner Lauren Clark called the C.S.A. marker a “symbol of oppression,” while HPC member Ken Markin suggested Confederates were “traitors” to the nation.

“There are no statues of which I’m aware to Benedict Arnold,” Markin added.

The only African American member of the commission, Phyllis Sides, indicated her support for removal but did not elaborate.

The commission recommended immediate removal and storage of the marker until an appropriate location is found for its permanent seating.

DeWitt said the City Council should reach an agreement with whomever agrees to accept the monument that will ensure the marker’s “appropriate contextualization,” so the marker’s history is not lost.

Additionally, the HPC recommended the marker not be supported by public funds nor should it be placed on public land.

The commission also unanimously agreed the monument should not be allowed to leave Cape Girardeau County.

Hoffman suggested it won’t be easy to find someone to take on the controversial monument.

“(The marker) is big, it’s heavy and you can’t keep it in the closet,” Hoffman said.

He eschewed the notion of relocation to a Confederate cemetery, such as exists, he said, in Bloomfield, Missouri.

“If it went (there), you run the risk that (the marker) would glorify the Confederacy,” Hoffman opined.

DeWitt, who said Tuesday’s meeting was the most exciting she’d attended in three years on the commission, reminded those in attendance HPC’s recommendation is not binding on the City Council.