A group of Gen. Robert E. Lee sympathizers said on Monday they plan to file a lawsuit against the city of Fort Myers for removing the bust of the Confederate general from downtown Fort Myers permanent.
David McCallister, an attorney for the local group of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the Fort Myers City Council should rescind its vote from the Sept. 14 meeting and give proper notice about the discussion before permanently moving the bust to a museum.
McCallister also said he disputes the city’s claim of ownership of the bust. The Lee bust was installed in the mid-1960s after many fundraising attempts by the now-defunct Laetitia Ashmore Nutt Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The bust has been controversial for years and has often spurred the local Lee County chapter of the NAACP to protest against it.
“We will do it when it’s appropriate,” McCallister said of the lawsuit. “I’m not going to be held to any deadline.”
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A group of protestors who support the Sons of the Confederacy gathered Monday, September 28, 2020 at the pedestal where the Robert E. Lee bust used to sit in downtown Fort Myers. The City of Fort Myers recently voted to keep the bust removed. The group was protesting to reverse that decision. The group also marched to Fort Myers City Hall and the Old Lee County Courthouse. They were joined by HK Edgerton, President of Southern Heritage 411, center. (Photo: Andrew West, The News-Press)
The city decision led to the visit of H.K. Edgerton in Fort Myers on Monday. Edgerton is a prominent Black activist from North Carolina who is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and often travels across the county in support of the Confederate flag and Gen. Lee.
“I am a son of loyal slaves fighting for my Southern family,” said Edgerton, a former president of the Asheville, North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. “Put the bust of Gen. Lee back. I am very ashamed of the City Council for what they did.”
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While council members voted to not welcome the return of Lee’s bust and to send it to a museum, how that will happen is uncertain, especially because the city does not have the statue in its possession.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans removed the statue at the beginning of June following the unrest across the country over the killing of George Floyd. Floyd died during a police confrontation with Minneapolis cops on Memorial Day. A week later, the Lee bust was removed after protesters in other regions of the country had vandalized Confederate memorials.
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A group of protestors who support the Sons of the Confederacy gathered Monday, September 28, 2020 at the pedestal where the Robert E. Lee bust used to sit in downtown Fort Myers. The City of Fort Myers recently voted to keep the bust removed. The group was protesting to reverse that decision. The group also marched to Fort Myers City Hall and the Old Lee County Courthouse. They were joined by HK Edgerton, President of Southern Heritage 411, center. (Photo: Andrew West, The News-Press)
Where is the statue?
“In a top secret bunker with Rush Limbaugh,” said Ross Barnett, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a commander of William Footman Camp.
The removal caused the state attorney’s office to drop a case against a man who also removed the statue in 2019, which McCallister said he disagrees with.
Edgerton was the sole Black person that marched from Monroe Street on Monday, where the empty pedestal is, to City Hall. He was joined by about a dozen supporters in his march. At City Hall, he stood in front of the doors, with the Confederate flag hoisted in his hands, and made a speech.
“It belongs to we, the people,” he said. “It was dedicated to we, the people.”
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After the speech, the group marched back to Monroe Street.
Edgerton said his vote is about fighting for honor.
“I am sick and tired of these folks writing this narrative about slavery and how bad it was,” he said.
He motioned toward the people clad in Confederate fatigues and surrounding him at the pedestal.
“This was our family. This was our friends.”
More: Permanent removal of Robert E. Lee bust from downtown Fort Myers a small victory for activists
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