Confederate memorial owners undeterred by recent removals

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. (AP) — The recent destruction of memorials to Confederate leaders since the death of George Floyd hasn't deterred the operators of a park visible from Interstate 5 north of Vancouver, Washington.

A community conversation about the tribute has repeatedly resurfaced since Jefferson Davis Park was installed in 2007 near Ridgefield, The Columbian reported. The Sons of Confederate Veterans Pacific NW Division, which owns the property where the monument stands, has remained steadfast.

“I think the people that are upset about this and making demands are in the minority. I think most people just want to live and let live,” Sons of Confederate Veterans Pacific NW Commander Rick Leaumont said. “If you’re offended, don’t look at it.”

In June, protesters pulled down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the former capital of the Confederacy, in Richmond, Virginia. Work crews and protesters have removed others across the country in response to protests against police brutality and racism.

“I don’t understand honoring people that wanted to keep people in slavery,” NAACP Vancouver President Bridgette Fahnbulleh said.

The Ridgeview site features two stone markers for the former “Jefferson Davis Highway 99,” one from Vancouver and one from Blaine. Donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, they were installed at their original sites decades ago. In 1998, the city of Vancouver placed the marker in storage.

Four years later, then-Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, helped lead an effort to permanently remove both markers, once referring to one of the markers as “that racist rock.”

Now the park is one of three publicly viewable Confederate symbols in the state, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

After the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Jefferson Davis Park was vandalized several times. Leaumont said more security measures have been added.

On Monday, red paint covered part of the sign welcoming visitors, an apparently new act of vandalism. But Confederate flags still flew from the flagpoles.