Commentary | Many others deserve placement in rotunda

The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights calls for the state government to remove the memorial statue of Jefferson Davis from the Kentucky Capitol Rotunda.

The appropriate location for the statue is not in a high place of honor in the very seat of our state government, but in a museum, history center, or educational exhibit.

This is not a new issue. The statue has stood far too long as an affront to many who visit our state capitol. People have sought its removal. But, the recent horrible murders in Charleston, S.C., allegedly motivated by racial hatred, compel us, once again, to search the state and national moral conscience.

Any laudatory display of Confederate symbols by state and local government entities carries the suggestion of approval by government. This is wrong. It is an insult to many and sends dangerous messages to others.

Confederate symbols such as statues, flags and monuments represent slavery, hatred, racial bigotry, and segregation. When displayed in government locations of honor, they glorify the behaviors of human domination, lynching, whipping, castration, branding, raping, burning and other forms of unspeakable torture, too numerous, egregious, and despicable to mention.

Instead, monuments of state pride should honor leaders and accomplishments that reflect the high ideals of Kentucky and America.

History is filled with Kentuckians of different races, female and male, who have made historic contributions to the collective good of society and who are worthy of consideration for a place of honor in the capitol rotunda.

Kentucky was the first state in the south to have a state human rights commission (1960). It was the first state in the south to pass a state civil rights act (1966).It was the first state in the south to pass a fair housing law (1968). Let Kentucky take its place again as a leader of freedom and move the Davis statue to a history center or museum where people may view it in an appropriate context.

The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights is the state government authority that enforces the laws that make discrimination illegal.

John L. Johnson is executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights. Hecoordinated demonstrations for removal of the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Capitol grounds during his previous tenure as Chief of Executive Operations and deputy director at the National Headquarters of the NAACP in Baltimore, Md.