Photo courtesy of Jim Tiller and the Daytona Beach News-Journal
There is no better way to start off a Friday morning than to remove a couple of Confederate plaques from a tourist-infested park.
Public work crews spent the morning of Friday, Aug. 18 stripping Daytona Beach’s Riverfront Park of three Confederate markers that honored soldiers from Volusia County that fought for the South in the Civil War.
The quiet removal of the plaques came as a result of Mayor Derrick Henry’s public denouncing of the Confederate memorials and the adverse messages they appropriate. As reported by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the second black mayor in the city’s history questioned its place in the future of Daytona Beach and condemned its promotion of moral divisiveness, stating that he didn’t “think they need to have a prominent place in public life if it is in homage to the Confederacy.”
This news also comes as a result of state Rep. Shevrin Jones’s announcement that he intends to file legislation to remove all Confederate ephemera from all public property in Florida.
The plaques have been a mainstay in Daytona Beach’s Riverfront Park since their installation in 1961. City spokeswoman Susan Cerbone commented that in order to be proactive in the city’s public safety efforts and maintain the city’s elevation of inclusivity, the plaques must be removed and retired to the Halifax Historical Museum.
“The removal is a step in the right direction, especially in regards to Confederate flags in general and the public preaching of its genuine racist connotation. People continue to argue that the Confederate flag is merely a symbol of Southern pride, but its true meaning is rooted within a violently racist past. If this is the step that needs to be taken for people to realize the true meaning of what it stands for, it is definitely appropriate.” Commented Harmony Milligan, a resident of Daytona Beach.
Although the plaques are not Volusia County’s only Confederate markers, their removal is an extremely big move for a city that is 35% black and houses the main campus of the historically-black Bethune Cookman University.
This is not the city’s first involvement in political territory within the recent year. In early May, Daytona Beach found itself at the front of an ongoing political debate after Bethune Cookman’s graduating class heckled Betsy DeVos’s commencement speech at their graduation ceremony.
Although the removal is one of the bigger efforts that Daytona Beach has taken in order to establish its own identity in a county that identifies as a red territory, will it be the right effort to spark change within the city?
“It’s about damn time that they removed the plaques, but the council is probably taking it down because they see a movement happening. I’m glad that it is happening, but I think that with the majority of people who live in Daytona Beach, I know for a fact that change is not going to happen. Just by observing the predominant socio-economic class of the area, you can tell that their beliefs and opinion on what the flag stands for is definitely not going to change.” Said Gami Arroyo, a student activist at Daytona State College.
But how do you push a city in the right direction towards erasing its problematic past?
“It takes more than legislation to spark change in a close-minded city. The root of revolution starts with the city’s youth culture. There is a strong collective of artists, musicians, and creatives in downtown Daytona that need to unify in order to dismantle the negative and prejudiced culture that we are taught to stomach and ignore without consequence. Once they come together to establish a solid core of youth power, they can start rewriting history through art and ingenuity. It’s not happening, but it will.” Said Arroyo.
