Gaye Adegbalola, one of about 30 people in the audience, interrupted to ask for the breakdown by race. Greenlaw said the online survey did not ask for commenters to give their race. She said that 209 of the online responses were from Fredericksburg residents and 322 were from those living in Stafford or Spotsylvania counties. The rest came from as far away as California.

Eight people spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, which was held before the vote. Of those, three asked for it to be removed, two asked that it remain in place and three said that they wanted the African–American community to have the strongest voice in the decision.

Eddie Hackler said that he has no evidence that his enslaved ancestors were sold at that auction block, and thinks it should remain where it is. He said moving it to the Fredericksburg Area Museum would be disastrous because it is devoid of African–American history.

“Removal would not remove the sins of Fredericksburg, but would lead people to believe that those sins have been forgiven,” he said.

Hackler said that African–Americans still make up the majority of prison inmates and their history isn’t taught.

“Could it be that slavery hasn’t disappeared, but it has evolved?” he said.