Tennessee: Vote to keep Confederate bust on courthouse lawn

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A county commission in Tennessee has decided to keep a bust of a Confederate officer on its courthouse lawn.

The Chattanooga Times Free-Press reports the Hamilton County Commission voted 6-2 Wednesday to keep the bust of Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart.

After the meeting, the NAACP’s Chattanooga President, Dr. Elenora Woods, said that things will have to change and that voting out the commissioners who opposed the removal of the bust is a key order of business.

Last week, Commissioner Greg Beck introduced legislation to seek the state’s permission to remove the bust, which was erected in 1919 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Commissioners Greg Beck and Warren Mackey, the two black members of the commission, were the only votes to remove the bust.