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Monumental Defense: A Movement to Protect the Confederate Statue
By Talbert Toole
Lifestyles Editor
talbert.toole@hottytoddy.com
Over the past years, the Confederate statue that remains in the heart of the University of Mississippi campus has been a controversial topic. Photo by Talbert Toole.
Mississippi is known for its rich heritage, southern hospitality and sweet tea, but more so, it is known for its preservation of history. For one Ole Miss alumnus, that preservation is specific to the memories of the Confederacy, the soldiers who lost their lives, and those who were buried without tombstones after the Civil War.
Born in Senatobia, William Garner’s history in Mississippi runs deep. He calls the state, and his alma mater, more than just a school but, “a state of mind … a way of life.”
Although his family uprooted from Mississippi to raise Garner in Arkansas, he was always drawn back to Ole Miss for football games at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Garner recalled fond memories of his experience with Ole Miss, such as Archie Manning teaching him how to throw a rollout pass in The Grove in the late 1960s.
The following year that same pass allowed Garner, a quarterback, to lead his junior high football team to an undefeated season and eventually a city championship.
“I could throw a rollout pass and [the opponent] couldn’t stop it,” he said.
Garner returned to Ole Miss where he received his education and graduated in 1980.
The Beginning of a Movement
Now that years have passed and Garner and his wife have settled down in Florida, he has found himself troubled by the current situation at the place he holds so many memories—the monument for Confederate soldiers.
Recently, students and faculty members at the university have associated the statue with Jim Crow, racism and segregation, he said.
Garner said he has been around the school his entire life and the current accusations against the statue are “shocking and insulting.”
While criticism of the statue began to surface, Garner realized it was time for him to get involved.
“Sometimes you have to stand up for what is right,” he said. “Sometimes you have to stand alone and stand up for what is right.”
Garner said he is lucky to have some many others who believe in his ideology of the statue: a memorial to fallen soldiers who died in battle.
(Click to enlarge) William Garner initiated the movement for flowers at the statue for Memorial Day on April 11. Photo via Facebook.
Although stated in a previous article, “University Clarifies Flower Removal Policy for Confederate Monuments,” that George “K-Rack” Johnson, leader of Memphis based organization “Confederate 901” began the movement for flower placement at the statue for Memorial Day, it was actually Garner who initiated first on April 11. His efforts led members of the “Make Ole Miss Great Again” (MOMGA) group to contribute flower placements.
MOMGA’s mission statement states that it works to promote the preservation of a variety of things that make Ole Miss special and stands firm against rude behavior and bad attitudes.
“Our Mission is to promote the preservation of the monuments, the images, the music and the unique history that make Ole Miss special, to help the University of Mississippi Leadership, faculty and student body rediscover, embrace, promote and reflect the values, culture and charm of historic Ole Miss, and finally, to rebut those who would unfairly and dishonestly disparage the University, its culture, symbols or its history. We will embody and applaud good manners, Southern charm, and hospitality. Together, we stand firmly against bad attitudes, rude behavior, intimidation, adversarial and divisive conduct. We are Ole Miss.” — MOMGA mission statement
Garner said he was not going to sit still while the monument goes unrecognized during the Memorial Day holiday.
“We’ve brought some of this on ourselves because we haven’t treated the memorial as a memorial; we called it a second place trophy while I was in school [at Ole Miss],” he said.
Although flowers were sent to the Confederate memorials on various days, such as Confederate Memorial Day and graduation weekend, Garner said he was persistent to send them on the chosen holiday.
It finally occurred to Garner that the movement to send flowers to the memorials was “flying under the radar.”
He decided to purchase a full-page advertisement in The Clarion-Ledger where he was able to convey his message.
“This is a monument to fallen soldiers and nothing more,” he said. “People who tell you it stands for something are wrong. It just stands for fallen soldiers.”
Advertisement in The Clarion-Ledger that Garner purchased in honor of the Confederate soldiers. Photo courtesy of William Garner.
Through a GoFundMe page, Garner was able to raise $4,600 for the advertisement with donations from 113 individuals who share the same mission and ideology as he does.
Memorial Day Flowers Relocated
The organization raised an additional $500 to which it used to purchase flowers that were sent to the Confederate statue, located at the Lyceum-Circle on campus, in the late afternoon on Friday, May 24, according to Garner.
After the flowers were delivered, the florist the organization used sent Garner a picture confirming the flowers in vases had been delivered to the statue.
(Click to enlarge) Flowers were sent to the Confederate statue by the “Make Ole Miss Great Again” organization Friday, May 24. Photo courtesy of William Garner.
However, within less than 24 hours of the flowers being delivered, a member of the MOMGA organization visited the statue to find the flowers removed, according to Garner.
Upset with the situation at his alma mater, Garner called the Oxford Police Department to report a theft; however, Garner was transferred to the University Police Department.
Garner said he spoke with a dispatcher at the UPD and explained the situation. According to Garner, the dispatcher said the decision to move the flowers from the statue to the cemetery was made by Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks; however, according to a statement made to Hottytoddy.com on Wednesday by Rod Guajardo, associate director of strategic communications, the decision was not made by Sparks.
“If I wanted to send [the flowers] to the cemetery, I would have sent them there,” Garner said.
On Monday (Memorial Day), Hottytoddy.com photographed the flowers that had been moved to the cemetery.
(Click to enlarge) Flowers that were originally ordered and placed for the Confederate statue on campus were moved to the Confederate cemetery south of the Tad Pad Coliseum. Photo by Talbert Toole.
“I know [Sparks] is in a tough spot,” Garner said. “But you just don’t remove flowers from a memorial on Memorial Day.”
The Movement Continues
Although there has not been a resolution or clarification on the movement of flowers sent to the statue on Memorial Day, Garner said he plans to continue to advocate and reiterate the meaning of the Confederate statue at Ole Miss.
Garner and the MOMGA organization have already begun raising additional funds through a second GoFundMe Page—Monumental Defense II.
The funds raised through the page will be used to rent electronic billboards in Oxford and Jackson, and other strategic locations, in hopes to “rally more people to defend the Confederate Memorial at Ole Miss against desecration,” according to the page’s description.
“We’re going to continue to work to raise awareness,” Garner said.
Through phone calls, text messages and emails, Garner said there is an overwhelming amount of support to join the movement and to continue the group’s mission.
“The history of Mississippi cannot be told without the stories of Confederate soldiers,” Garner said.
| Sat, Aug 31 |  | vs Furman | W, 76-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | vs Middle Tennessee | W, 52-3 |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | vs Oklahoma | W, 26-14 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | @ Arkansas | W, 63-35 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Georgia | W, 28-10 |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | L, 24-17 |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | W, 26-14 |
| Thu, Jan 2 |  | vs Duke (Gator Bowl) | W, 52-20 |
| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | 11:00 AM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | 8:00 PM ESPN2 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | 3:00 PM TBA |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | 6:00 PM ESPN |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |
Debbie Crenshaw
May 31, 2019 at 7:39 pm
I’m glad all voices are being heard and represented at Ole Miss. Genuine diversity not only includes voices not heard before, but also those who respect the past, be it wrongly directed at times. We can all learn from each other and go forward together.
No sane, caring human being would believe in the evil institution of slavery. All opinions should be listened to and respected regarding these monuments.
Gary Daniel
June 1, 2019 at 2:09 am
Cemetaries are for the Soldiers from the State who died fighting or from their wounds or just are buried with their comrades.
Monuments are for all the soldiers that the monument represents. It is not a racist symbol but a Historical one. Removing monuments is asinine. There is no reason to remove them or give them second shrift. A few who claim to be offended do not get to have say over what goes down. Everyone has the right to be offended and I accept their right to be offended but being offended is their choice and a stone or metal monument has little if anything to do with it. It’s that 1st Amendment thing about protecting all speech not just what sounds good at the time. Mr. Lincoln threw reporters and editors from newspapers not in agreement with him in jail without charges. Maryland voted to remain in the Union because all the Secession Delegates were imprisoned when the vote transpired. That kind of thing is just wrong. Having differing opinions and views is part of our system.
One reason that these people want them gone is because the Daughters of the Confederacy put them up through “Jim Crow times. Everything else that anyone else did was during Jim Crow times also. Honoring their relatives and ancestors from the end of the war until the 1960s and even now is more to do with raiding funds for them and the big push in the 1950s and 1960s was because of the Centennial of the war not because of anything political happening. NPS also put up more monuments and published booklets and made films and all kinds of things. Reenacting got started about then. There is nothing wrong with any of that.
People complain about the “Lost Cause” being fabricated myth but it sure is closer to truth than the “Massa Lincolm fit de Wawah to free de Slaves” nonsense that public schools have been pushing for 50+ years. It wasn’t even a Civil War. That name was given to the War of Secession to Foster some idea that the Southern States were trying to overthrow the US. They were not. It’s amazing how many people think that and cry Treason yet nobody was tried for Treason because it couldn’t be proven. There was no Treason.
The Education Department is at fault here for pushing a narrative that isn’t true. So many people have so little understanding of the biggest event in our nation’s History. It is sad that people are so ignorant about that time that they can be manipulated with guilt trips and misinformation and outright lies and they don’t know any better.
Gary Ryan
June 1, 2019 at 5:41 am
Piss-poor writing, if you don’t mind my saying. And tin-eared treatment of an important topic. Please work on correcting both, moving forward.
Little harm in moving the statue to the cemetery behind where Tad Smith was.
By the way, those graves were marked at one time, but groundskeepers many years ago pulled up the markers so they could mow easier — once up, they were hopelessly a jumbled mess that no one could reconfigure.
Arguing for Ole Miss to remain unchanged in a way that defaults only toward the dreams and aspirations of white dominant culture is thoughtless in myriad selfish ways.
Poll your black friends and see what they think about the statue. I bet the ‘move it’ votes would be near 100% that statue is a thumb in the eye of 35% of the folk who live in Mississippi. Seriously, move it — it’s the right thing to do.
It’s time, just move it already. Then after, kindly learn to write better.
Loretta
June 1, 2019 at 8:43 am
This article is absurd. Mississippi is known for hiding and distorting its history. Witness the lynchings that have taken place in Lafayette County. There are at least seven. Yet we Mississippians have wiped all records clean of these atrocities.
If “Hotty Toddy” is supposed to be promoting journalism, it is failing badly.
John Pope
June 1, 2019 at 8:49 am
There is a coordinated effort by the Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/20160421/whose-heritage-community-action-guide
To eliminate all vestiges of the confederacy from public view. They have provided their followers with instructions on how to attack these historic symbols and monuments. Not just the confederate flag, or monuments to Robert E. Lee, or Stone Wall Jackson, but monuments dedicated to all confederate soldiers, street names, building names. Worse, their intent is to demonize the old south and defile its memory.
Traci Thompson
June 1, 2019 at 9:16 am
Excellent article. Keep up the good work. Education is the key to reverse the current revisionist madness & anti-Southronism.
Gary Daniel
June 1, 2019 at 10:20 am
Southern Poverty Law Center is a Hate Group that bullies people.
Gary Daniel
June 1, 2019 at 10:35 am
I wasn’t aware that Confederate Soldiers lynched anyone. I know Custer lynched a Black Man who couldn’t find the crossing they were looking for. Custer hanged some of Mosby’s men also. Soldiers in uniform. They call that a war crime. There is something about an orphanage in New York in1863 also.
Whatever happened after the war was put upon everybody. Confederate Soldiers are not Klan.
Gary Daniel
June 1, 2019 at 10:55 am
Yes I believe you are correct.
El McWhorter
June 1, 2019 at 1:12 pm
I agree. I wish folks cared enough about truth to seek learning beyond what the mainstream educators provide.
Jack Smith III
June 1, 2019 at 3:03 pm
For those who didn’t know.
Did you know General Robert E Lee said their shouldn’t be any monuments to southern Generals or the southern states. He said by doing either would cause the wounds to the country from the civil war to linger and take much longer to heal if ever.
A few months ago, while reading about his life after the war he was quoted as saying such, he refused to sit for anyone wanting to do paintings or sculptures of him.
I’ve thought about it for a while, and if the greatest general of his time didn’t believe there should be memorials to the confederacy, then how can I, someone 140 years afterwards defend having the memorials? I’ve been in the past a staunch believer in keeping them, I felt removing them was removing part of our history, but it’s not, its removing the legacy of what the south stood for, not its history. If we keep the memorials were keeping that way of life prevalent in a lot of southerners minds, and how can we move beyond racial issues if we keep these reminders in the forefront. They not only incite racism among white people but stirs anger in black people, which neither is good.
William Stryker
June 1, 2019 at 3:16 pm
US federal law 85-425 section 410 passed in 1957 states that confederate soldiers, sailors and marines are infact US veterans per federal law.
Sol McQueen
June 1, 2019 at 4:36 pm
Take a sledgehammer to them all. It’s nothing about heritage unless about a heritage of hate. I have said it before and I will say it again…Robert E. Lee was the biggest traitor of the USA second to Benedict Arnold.
Dr. Holice Odell Gilliland, Jr.
June 1, 2019 at 4:38 pm
The Confederate monument in the Circle at Ole Miss was dedicated to soldiers killed in the war from Lafayette County. The vast majority of these young men were buried in mass graves or unmarked graves in far away places. Their families never knew where they were buried or if they even got buried, certainly they never received a decent burial service. What decent person would deny these boys and their families a monument to remember their sacrifices for Lafayette County, Oxford, and Ole Miss. The ladies of Oxford raise the money and placed this monument at the Circle over one hundred years ago,and it should remain where they placed the monument. Allow these heroes to Rest In Peace with the honor and glory that they won on the fields of battle in far away places in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
Nancy Chandler
June 1, 2019 at 4:44 pm
Agree.Well Said.
mark h
June 1, 2019 at 5:03 pm
this countryhas turned into a bunch of offended idiots .Its a memorial for fallen soldiers who have no other way 2 be remembered. Good freakn grief!!!!!
Ron Hamilton
June 1, 2019 at 8:11 pm
Definitely Gary. They used to be among the groups and charities we donated to. No longer! You are correct in your description of them.
Dixie Lee
June 1, 2019 at 8:43 pm
Great article. May this monument stand strong and stand against the radicals of today.
#notanotherSam
Loretta
June 2, 2019 at 10:31 am
Nice try, Gary. Your comment does not change Mississippi’s sad history one bit. Truth scares a lot of people.
Daisiemae
June 2, 2019 at 2:46 pm
Unfortunately, you cannot educate bigots. The more facts you present to them, the harder they cling to their outlandish, radical beliefs. That fact has been proven in scientific studies.
Education is only beneficial for rational people who were already skeptical of the radical propaganda being thrown out by lunatics.
Creme para tirar manchas do rosto
June 13, 2019 at 6:58 pm
Tem perfeito tempo para fazer planos para o futuro e tem tempo para ser feliz.
Tenho ler este post e se eu pudesse eu quer sugerir-lhe alguns
coisas interessantes ou dicas. Talvez pode escrever próximos artigos referindo-se a este
artigo. Eu quero ler ainda mais coisas nele!