A new Confederate monument was unveiled in Alabama’s Crenshaw County on Sunday. More than 200 people attended the ceremony, reports AL.com.
The stone market commemorates the “unknown Confederate soldiers” who died in the Civil War but have “been forgotten by history” writes AL.com, particularly those from Crenshaw County and the surrounding area.
The memorial stands in a Confederate memorial park, which was opened in May 2015 on private land. There are other monuments: replica cannons and tall flagpoles flying the Confederate flag.
Discussions about Confederate statues and monuments have been gripping the nation since white supremacists and neo-Nazi swarmed Charlottesville, Va. to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. A clash with counterprotesters turned violent, and one young woman was killed when a car rammed into the crowd. Since then, many statues and Confederate figures have been taken down and rallies have taken place nationwide.
However, AL.com writes that it was a coincidence that the memorial and ceremony were unveiled so soon after the deadly Charlottesville rally. Jimmy Hill, a commander of the Alabama division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said that it has been in the works for nine months, but they put it on the website two days after the Charlottesville clash.
About 10 members and affiliates of the right-wing Three Percenters militia movement stood in the back during the ceremony “in case anything were to happen,” wearing camouflage fatigues and body armor and carrying large guns, writes AL.com.
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