Ole Miss Football makes Plea to Remove Confederate Statue on Oxford's Square
The Confederate statue that stood at the Lyceum Circle on the University of Mississippi campus for 114 years is going to get moved.
This past week, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees approved the University's plan to relocated the statue to a cemetery behind the Tad Smith Coliseum.
Now, Ole Miss football players are taking to Twitter. The changes in Oxford and at Ole Miss are not done – not on their watch.
"We want to start off by giving our condolences to the families of victims: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Dominique Clayton, and countless others who unjustly have had their lives taken," the football team's statement began." Police brutality and systemic racism are prevailing in our country. This cannot keep happening and change needs to come now."
16 different members of the Rebel football team, both white and black, joined together in a video over the weekend, pleading to leaders in Lafayette County, where Ole Miss sits, with one more goal: to not just remove the confederate statue on the Ole Miss campus, but also to remove the one donning the entrance to the Oxford Square.
"We were very excited to hear that the IHL Board heard our community's complaints and worked with chancellor Boyce to remove the statue from the circle," players stated. "We ask for help from the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors. We ask for you, the ones who can approve the removal of the confederate statue on the square. We can't be complacent with progress made thus far. we have to move forward in our journey towards equality."
The members of the Ole Miss football team are far from the only ones with similar thoughts. Of course, there are also with dissenting opinions as well.
Over the weekend, two men set up a projector on the square, projecting the words "take it down" onto the confederate monument.
These views go hand-in-hand with much going on around Mississippi over the past week. On Friday, the NCAA brought down the hammer on Mississippi, stating that they would be able to host no postseason events until the state flag is changed.
"All history is meant to be remembered," the players stated. "But not all history is meant to be celebrated."
More from The Grove Report:
NCAA Brings Down the Hammer on Mississippi Over the State Flag Debate
Projecting the 2021 Ole Miss Baseball Lineup
Ole Miss Esports disassociates with the 'Rebel' moniker
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