Spring Friends Meeting, a congregation of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, offers this statement regarding the ongoing debate over the Confederate statue in Alamance County.

As a faith community established in 1761, predating the founding of our nation by 15 years, and the establishment of our county by 88, we inherit a deep-seated responsibility to actively promote Peace and Justice around the world as well as in our own community.  We believe that the promotion of such sacred ideals needs our attention and our action, which is long overdue here in our own home.  These ideals are best served when vestiges of past injustice are recognized and acknowledged, and when we hold ourselves accountable to redress them.  The Confederate statue is such an icon.

We appreciate that many of our neighbors consider the monument to stand as a tribute to past heroism and the faithful duty of our forebears.  Yet the historical words and deeds of the individuals who erected this statue prove indisputably that its presence was equally intended to serve as a symbol of the supremacy of the white race and as an effort to maintain that status quo.  The statue’s prominence in the shadows of the courthouse, an edifice committed to serving all citizens equally and justly, belies that mission.  History proves that those who dedicated the monument were the very perpetrators of the brutal lynching of Wyatt Outlaw, which took place only steps away.  To continue to permit the statue to remain in this public place of “Justice” is to perpetuate the dark spirit of those who erected it as well as to turn a blind eye to the crime that presaged it.  And though our elected leaders claim they have no legal authority to address the moving of the statue, they should understand they have a moral duty to do so.  

In a spirit of reconciliation, we advocate not for the destruction of the monument, but rather its relocation to a more appropriate venue, away from our courthouse and public squares, within a museum or other historically proper place, where the entirety of its story can be presented and preserved for Posterity.

We, members of Spring Friends Meeting, hence declare that we pledge to hold ourselves accountable to standing on the right and just side of History regarding this matter.  We appeal to our neighbors and elected leaders to stand with us.

Approved by Spring Friends Meeting

9/20/2020

Judith Bush, Clerk

Click Here for the YouTube video of the Alamance County Commissioners Meeting on September 21, 2020. Ron Osborne presented our Statement on the Statute at the meeting. Ron's presentation starts at about 49 min. 30 sec. into the video.