LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – The fight continues over some of Louisville's controversial monuments but it could in the final stages.
“I'm not here to advocate whether we should keep it or not, that's not my job, but what I am saying is that, I think for us to not have some kind of in between step between keep it or don't is irresponsible,” “…well it was irresponsible to put it up to be honest.”
That’s just a glimpse of the back and forth from a Tuesday night meeting for the Public Art and Monuments Advisory Committee, which was created by the mayor.
The group has spent months writing guidelines that determine what might make a monument historically appropriate, or unnecessary, for example, ‘Monuments are not history’ and ‘Monuments should reflect ‘us’ not ‘some of us.’
“It tells a little of the history, and that's what I'm afraid Louisville is going to get away from, is the history,” Forest Land, who attended the meeting, explained.
“I believe that Castleman and Prentice should both go to cave Hill cemetery where I believe they're both buried. They no longer reflect the younger generation,” George Sales, who was also at the meeting, explained.
There's been a clear disdain for both of those statues around Louisville. The Prentice monument overlooking the library and Castleman on his horse at Cherokee Triangle were both spitefully decorated in orange paint.
Tired of cleaning the mess, the city put up a sign that now sits next to those monuments explaining the vandalism.
“The argument, well you can't remove history, we're not. We're putting it in Cave Hill cemetery where those that love these monuments can go and visit them,” Sales said.
“Louisville has the opportunity to have things, and if, what we do have, is to keep it and enjoy it,” Land argued.
The big questions: Does removing these monuments heal the racial divide? Or just make it worse? Should you remove history? Or continue to learn from it?
The committee will post the newest draft with the most recent revisions online - it will be reviewed again and committee members will have to decide if they want one last meeting before the guidelines are brought to the mayor's office by June 30th.
From there, the Mayor's office will have to decide the future of those monuments.
►Contact reporter Heather Fountaine at hfountaine@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Heather) and Facebook.