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Committee proposes removal of Civil War memorial statue

Civil War statue at Veterans Garden of Honor,Allendale Twp., MI
Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press
/
Associated Press

A citizens committee in western Michigan has proposed removing a park statue of a Union soldier and Confederate soldier standing back to back as a slave child kneels between them. The Garden of Honor Memorial Committee presented its suggestion Monday to the Allendale Township board which could vote June 14 on the statue's future. In addition to removing the current statue, the committee also recommended Monday that a replacement statue featuring three Union soldiers - one white, one Black and one Native American - be erected. Calls for the statue to come down began last year following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and anti-police brutality protests around the country.