Williamson County residents invite their neighbors to join them for a Move the Monument Community Gathering at the Williamson County Courthouse, 710 S. Main Street, at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14. Attendees at the event will call on the Williamson County Commissioners to move the Confederate States of America monument from the grounds of the Courthouse.

United by the idea of “Liberty and Justice for All,” the event will give voice to high school students, college students, and community leaders who believe that a monument venerating an army that fought for the defense of human slavery does not belong in front of our County Courthouse.

The event is organized and sponsored by a coalition of organizations including Central Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action, Courageous Conversations of Georgetown, Georgetown Ministerial Alliance, GTX Connect, Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church, San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Wellspring United Methodist Church, and Wilco Patriots. Event sponsors share a common belief that a monument glorifying the confederacy’s defense of the enslavement of African Americans makes our Courthouse Square unwelcoming to our residents and visitors. The County Courthouse cannot represent justice for all when a confederate monument remains on its grounds.

Background

The monument features a confederate soldier, the Confederate States of America (CSA) emblem, and the confederate battle flag. It was placed on the grounds of the Williamson County Courthouse in 1916. More than 700 such monuments valorizing the Confederate States of America were installed on Courthouse Squares and public parks in cities across the South. Most were installed at a time when the Ku Klux Klan was growing and Jim Crow laws were being established or strengthened to enforce legal segregation and discrimination.

Since 2017, confederate monuments have been removed from courthouse squares and public parks in Beaumont, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Gainesville, Houston, Lockhart, and San Antonio.

Call for action

Williamson County residents are invited to join this gathering to support moving the confederate monument from the Courthouse Square. Attendees are invited to sign a petition to call for the removal of the monument and are encouraged to reach out to their neighbors and elected officials to ask them to support the removal of the monument.

Parking

The event will occur during Market Days on the Square in Georgetown. Parking is available in free public lots at Eighth and Martin Luther King Jr. streets, Sixth and Rock streets, Fifth Street and Austin Avenue, and 10th and Main streets.