A dozen Lafayette County ministers, representing more than 70 faith leaders supporting the relocation of the Confederate statue, held a press conference Monday asking the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors to reverse its recent vote to keep the Confederate statue on the Oxford Square.
Speaking at the event outside the Lafayette County Chancery Court Building were James Hull, president of the Tallahatchie-Oxford MB Ministerial Alliance, the Right Reverend Duncan M. Gray, III, retired Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Mississippi, Pastor Ronnie Driver, a member of Flint Hill MB Church in Lafayette County and the Reverend Dr. Gail Stratton, Unitarian Universalist Community Minister.
“We clergy know something about symbols,” Gray said. “Symbols touch us in our heart and soul, places that are deeper than words or reason can reach. We know their power to lift up or to cast down. Symbols have power to shape the course of our lives, for good or ill. That is why this statue, in the heart of our community, is so divisive and dangerous.”
Staff report
