A representative of a movement to remove the Confederate monument at the Lauderdale County Courthouse addressed the Meridian City Council Tuesday night.

N’Spire Walker, who led a peace rally outside city hall before the meeting, asked the council to remove the monument or pass an ordinance preventing hate symbols to be displayed on public property.

“It hurts the black residents of Meridian,” Walker told the council. “It does not represent Mississippi taxpayers.”

Many of the people who attended the rally came to the council meeting.

Walker presented a plan of action that also included a request for $500 to $1,000 to help with community growth and development.

Council Vice President Weston Lindemann of Ward 5 said it was unclear who had authority to take any action related to the monument.

Lindemann suggested it might be possible for the council to pass a resolution endorsing the idea of moving it, if nothing else.

The resolution would require a majority vote by the council, he said.

Council President Kim Houston of Ward 4 invited Walker to attend a city work session on June 30 to discuss the matter further and suggested Walker talk to state lawmakers.

Walker was also one of the organizers of the June 6 “Breathe Through Me” peace rally in Meridian that followed the May 25 death of George Floyd.

A Minneapolis police officer who could be seen on video with his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes has been charged with murder.

Lauderdale County’s Confederate monument is on public property owned and maintained by the county, according to County Administrator Chris Lafferty.

The Board of Supervisors is the public body responsible for maintaining it, but the board has not discussed any changes to it, Lafferty said.

Lafferty said any position that the board takes will be in light of a state statute, Miss. Code Ann. 55-15-81.

The statute prohibits the alteration of historical monuments and memorials erected on public property.

“The governing body may move the memorial to a more suitable location if it is determined that the location is more appropriate to displaying the monument,” according to the statute.

Walker said Tuesday night that she has talked to a supervisor about speaking at a future board meeting.  

Sammy Feltenstein of Meridian, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, said he has handled upkeep of the monument for many years.

“I think it needs to stay right where it is,” he said. “It’s not hurting anything … It’s strictly to honor the war dead.”