A small crowd gathered Sunday evening on the courthouse lawn to protest the Confederate monument on the Square after a Confederate Monument Committee decided to recommend keeping the statue and adding context with a 12-3 vote earlier this week.

“The decks are stacked against us,” local activist Willie Hudspeth said. “They have all the votes on that commissioners court. The people will help change that vote. If we want this thing moved then we have to come to the commissioners courts, [show up] Sunday evenings or somewhere and get our voices heard.”

Hudspeth was a member of the advisory committee created by the Denton County Commissioners Court and one of the three who voted against keeping the statue.

The other dissenting votes came from Paul Meltzer and Alfred Sanchez.

Catherine Giles, a volunteer advocate and activist, presented statistics about the 15-member committee. She gathered information which she said proved the committee was stacked.

“The data shows that the committee in no way represented the composition of the diverse citizens of Denton County,” Giles said.

She compared the composition of the committee to the composition of Denton County using 2010 U.S. census data.

Giles said males were overrepresented by 29 percent on the committee. She said the committee members’ ages did not represent Denton County.

In the middle of Hudspeth’s speech, Gary Moore, a demonstrater in favor of keeping the statue, spoke out saying the monument is owned by the state and the commissioners court does not have the power to move it.

Members of the crowd replied that if the commissioners court request to have the statue moved then there is still a chance.

Moore has been at many of the protests and thinks the statue should remain in its place in front of the Courthouse on the Square.

“The monument is not an issue of hate,” Moore said. “It has nothing hateful about it. There is nothing racist about it. That is nothing more than a monument to the people who fought for the South. It doesn’t mean a hiddle of beans. What really matters is the fact that this is a very unobtrusive monument. It’s very simplistic. It’s been there forever. It’s a key touch point to the entire Square here in Denton County.”

While Moore was discussing with protestors, the crowd began chanting “we are here to protest not debate.”

That ended Moore’s conversation, but he stayed for the entirety of the protest. Moore did not agree with the chant and said protests are about debate.

“I’m not trying to change anybody’s mind,” Moore said. “I’m not trying to force them to believe my way is the right way or the wrong way. I just thought it important to come up here and put an alternative voice in the mix.”

Police officers were stationed throughout the Square in case of conflict, though counterprotesters were not numerous.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy erected the Confederate statue on the Denton Square in 1918. Willie Hudspeth has been protesting the monument since 1999.

A plaque reading “the monument stands as a reminder of historic events and is intended as a memorial to Denton County citizens who sacrificed themselves for the community” was added to the monument in 2010.

After a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville resulted in the death of one woman, the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments nationwide increased. The Commissioners court saw numerous speakers on the subject and eventually organized a committee.

The 15-member Confederate Monument Committee had their first meeting in October 2017 after being approved by the Denton County Commissioners Court. After three months of studying the history of the statue, hearing from experts and hearing from the public, the committee voted on a recommendation last Thursday.

Chairman John Baines drew a picture to illustrate his envisioned context for the statue. This was meant as a compromise so the committee could come to a consensus.

The proposed context includes a plaque that will sit under the arch of the monument. The language on the plaque will take a stance against slavery in Denton County. Kiosks will be added on either side of the monument, which will illustrate the history of slavery.

This recommendation will go to the commissioners court on Tuesday.

Margarette Neale has been protesting since August.

“The committee didn’t have a fair representation of demographics of Denton County,” Neale said. “It was predominantly white men who were over the age of 50. Mary Horn [county judge] had indicated in writing and verbally that she wouldn’t move the monument despite what the committee was going to side.”

Protests to remove the statue are planned for every Sunday from Feb. 4 to Feb. 25.

Featured Image: Willie Hudspeth speaks to protesters in response to the decision to keep the Confederate monument in the square. Jacob Ostermann