Republican Senator Gerald Allen has proposed a bill that could prevent the local governments in state of Alabama from removing the Confederate memorials in various cities. The move by the lawmaker is in response to the decision of other southern states to take down the historic monuments.
The bill, titled Alabama Heritage Protection Act, went through a public hearing held by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee earlier this week. If passed, the state will not be able to remove memorials and monuments related to the Confederacy without obtaining a waiver from the Legal Council, which is composed of the state's lawmakers. Failure to do so will result in a $100,000 fine, according to WGEM.
Allen said during the hearing that the bill was drafted in order to protect the history of Alabama. It will also serve as a way of maintaining the honor of soldiers who fought for the southern states during the Civil War.
Prior to the submission of Allen's bill, four confederate flags were removed from the Alabama Capitol by Governor Robert Bentley. Similarly, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the city council voted in December in favor of the removal of four iconic monuments including the statue of Robert E. Lee, who served as a general for the Confederacy, ABC News Go has learned.
The move by various cities and states to dismantle their Confederate memorials is in response to the call by various civil rights groups. These organizations argue that these types of monuments are offensive to certain ethnic groups, especially since the Confederate movement has been closely associated with slavery and racism.
Although supporters of the movement largely consider the memorials as symbols of one of the main aspects of U.S. history, others, however, believe that they represent the country's dark past.
Reverend Rayford Mack of the civil rights organization National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said that local governments should take it upon themselves to decide the appropriateness of a Confederate monument based on its surroundings.
"Nobody wants to erase history, but there are always two sides to that story," he said according to WGEM.com. "If this monument is in the middle of a predominantly black area, or a predominantly minority area, how do you think that makes the community feel? How can I take pride in something that wanted to continue my enslavement?"
