Should Kentucky remove the Jefferson Davis Statute from the Capital building?

Although we are waiting on one of the biggest decisions regarding Civil Rights since the Voter Right’s Act of 1964, we will not ignore issues that continue to plague our nation. It’s almost surreal to know to we are still discussing race in the year of 2015.

In light of the issues that have occurred across the country and in the state recently, the question of whether or not to remove the statute of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda has been discussed this week.

The issue has come up previously, but went no further than discussions. This time, it looks like there might be an actual decision on the matter, as even Republican Mitch McConnell has raised the issue of removing the statute.

Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky, but when he served in Congress, he represented Mississippi, not Kentucky. In light of the fact he was born here is not the strongest claim for him to be in the capital building alongside people like Abraham Lincoln, who continued to have ties to Kentucky well past his childhood.

Of course, politically, the issue is now about race and racial relations and whether or not Kentucky wants to continue to have ties to what many people see as the its racist past. For some people, every time they walk past that statute, they feel like Kentucky is still holding on to that part of the Confederacy. As the idea of removing the Confederate flag from across the flag pole of the capitals in the South has been sweeping through social media and the press, maybe it is time for Kentucky to remove the Jefferson Davis statute and place it in a history museum where it belongs.