Local
Kansas City Confederate memorial hit with graffiti overnight
A local Confederate memorial at 55th and Ward Parkway was hit graffiti Friday night. The graffiti appears to be a red hammer and sickle.
After last week’s protests and violence in Charlottesville, Va., Confederate memorials across the country have become the center of a debate over whether the U.S. should continue to memorialize those who supported the South.
Erected to the “Loyal Women of the Old South,” the local memorial’s purpose is to recognize the women who supported the Confederacy and slavery. It was a 1934 gift to the city by a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It originally stood in the Country Club Plaza but was relocated in 1958 to its present site, according to the Kansas City Department of Parks and Recreation website.
Some area residents have recently requested the 83-year-old monument be removed. Its future is being reviewed by the parks department.
A No Place For Hate rally and march is scheduled start at noon Sunday at the J.C. Nichols Fountain in Country Club Plaza and end at the Confederate memorial. The group organizing the event plans to pass out petitions to remove the Confederate memorial and rename the J.C. Nichols Fountain.
Kelsey Ryan: 816-234-4852, @kelsey_ryan
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