By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Capitol Building Commission members heard public comments — but took no action — on calls to remove the Stonewall Jackson statue from the West Virginia Capitol grounds.
Speakers were seven for and one against removing the statue of the Confederate general and slave owner from its prominent location on the Capitol grounds.
“It is really shocking to me that, in 2020, almost 2021, we are having this discussion about placement of a Confederate general on our grounds,” said the Rev. David Fryson, lawyer, pastor of New First Baptist Church in Charleston and retired diversity director at West Virginia University. “I hope you will not delay this vote or delay this decision. It is long overdue.”
Wednesday marked the first time the commission acknowledged years of calls to remove the statue. Afterward, though, commission chairman Randall Reid-Smith was noncommittal about taking up the matter as an agenda item at the commission’s next meeting.
“I’ll have to ask, but you’ll be the first to know,” he said, when asked about taking up the matter…
