After countless accounts of police brutality going unpunished, protests have been going on for weeks now. Across the United States, people have been calling for justice in many forms- one being that Confederate Monuments need to go.

Does Bulloch county need to do the same?

Across the South, there are countless remnants of the Civil War’s history, especially here in Georgia. 

In Statesboro, in front of Bulloch County Courthouse, is a Confederate Memorial Statue. 

The statue was placed by the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 to honor the lives lost in the Civil War. The monument displays a Confederate soldier, standing on a 25 foot shaft of marble, facing south. 

This statue was even featured in the film 1969.

There’s a debate across America about whether or not these statues are honoring history or is it a bleak glorification of slavery.

A Dekalb County judge, Clarence Seeliger, recently ordered for a Confederate monument in Decatur square to be removed due to it becoming a “frequent target of graffiti and vandalism” 

Will Bulloch County do the same?

Twice in the past five years, there have been two petitions calling for the removal of the confederate memorial statue in Statesboro. 

“The community of Statesboro and Bulloch County wants to stand against racism and white nationalism by removing the Confederate monument on the Bulloch County Courthouse lawn,” reads the 2017 petition by Katie Durrence. 

A previous petition was created by James “Major” Woodall in 2015.

Both petitions received thousands of signatures and were sent to the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners; the council voted unanimously for the statue to remain.

The George-Anne reached out to Tom Couch, Bulloch county commissioner, for comment and have not heard back.

Celeste Chapman, Contributor, cc31359@georgiasouthern.edu