TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida NAACP is demanding that governor Rick Scott remove a confederate monument, as well as flags and memorials, from the grounds of the state capitol.
The civil rights group also wants state lawmakers to ban "all confederate statues, flags and memorials" from public lands across Florida.
The call for the removal and the ban comes as cities throughout the sunshine state and the nation face growing pressure to remove what for some are a reminder of the country's shameful history but for others represent a cultural heritage.
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a democratic candidate for governor, has also called for the removal of the capitol confederate monument and others like it.
"If they belong as a part of our history, if that's what the folks who are big advocates of these monuments and flags argue, why wouldn't we work very actively together in a unified way to put them in their proper place," said Gillum.
There is a renewed push to replace a statue in the u-s capitol of confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith with a likeness of Mary McLeod Bethune. She was an educator and civil-rights activist who founded what is now known as Bethune-Cookman University.
Legislation was filed in both the Florida house and senate this week for the 2018 session to make that change.
