St. Louis' mayor narrows scrutiny of Confederate memorial

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis' mayor has scratched plans for a formal panel to decide whether a three-story Confederate memorial should be moved out of Forest Park, instead calling on proposals from people or groups willing to perhaps offer up another public place for the landmark.

Mayor Francis Slay outlined that shift Tuesday in his blog, more than two months after he announced he'd asked three agencies to weigh what, if anything, to do with the 32-foot granite statue that has been near Forest Park's visitors center for a century along "Confederate Drive."

The debate comes as Confederate symbols across the country face increasing scrutiny since last month's shooting deaths of nine black congregants at a Charleston, South Carolina, church. The white suspect, Dylann Roof, had posed in photos with the Confederate flag.

Slay's exploration of what to do with the St. Louis monument predated the shooting, though he suggested Monday discussions about its location "should command our attention."

Slay initially asked the Missouri History Museum, the not-for-profit Forest Park Forever and the Incarnate Word Foundation to study the landmark's placement. He's now tasked just the foundation to organize a group that would draft and circulate a request for offers from people or organizations willing to provide "an appropriate" public place should the monument be moved.

U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, a black St. Louis Democrat, has pressed for the monument to go, telling Slay in a letter Monday that while some may "reflect on this memorial as a symbol of southern culture and Civil War reverence ... symbols matter and should reflect who we are as a people today."

"Symbols associated with this country's racist, oppressive past should not be elevated or displayed in public places," he wrote.

The Missouri History Museum believes the monument should stay put as "a part of our history, not one for which we should be especially proud but one that should be universally understood," Slay said, adding the museum suggests creating permanent interpretive material at the monument explaining its historical context.

The Missouri chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans ancestry group also has sought for the memorial dating to 1914 to be left alone, arguing that doing otherwise would be extreme political correctness and a bid to erase history.

In his blog posting, Slay dismissed such assessments as "absurd."

Slay has asked his point man on the issue -- Eddie Roth, the city's director of human services -- to confer with Civil War historians and prepare a report by the end of the summer that answers how the memorial came into being, who sponsored it, what their motivations were and why it glorifies the Confederate cause.

Roth did not return telephone messages Wednesday.