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DA on Confederate obelisk: 'This monument does not represent the people of Gwinnett'

District Attorney Danny Porter said he signed a petition urging the county commission to take up the issue, and have it removed from Lawrenceville Town Square.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — The Gwinnett County District Attorney joined a demonstration on Sunday that was pushing for the removal of a Confederate monument in Lawrenceville Town Square.

Now, he's urging the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners to join him in supporting its ouster from the central spot.

“I was proud to attend today’s rally, as well as add my name to the petition asking Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners to remove the Confederate monument," Danny Porter said. "I fully support this peaceful effort and believe the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center would be a more appropriate venue than outside this courthouse."

The monument has become the latest to face pressure for removal as municipalities around the country contemplate - or remove outright - homages to controversial figures.

In Georgia, the focus has been primarily on the myriad of Confederate obelisks and statues.  

Porter said that some may have been surprised to see him in attendance but he said this was part of being representative of all Gwinnett County residents as an elected official.

Credit: Provided by Danny Porter
The Gwinnett County District Attorney joined a demonstration on Sunday that was pushing for the removal of a Confederate monument in Lawrenceville Town Square.

"My approach to this office is that it's for the people and this monument does not represent the people of Gwinnett," he wrote late Sunday evening.

He also pointed to other suburban counties taking similar actions to remove such statues and monuments.

Meanwhile, at least one organized Georgia group is pushing back against such acts, calling the removal of memorials to veterans an act of terrorism. It also points to state law suggesting that the removals are not legal.

The Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans shared a statement made just days earlier by the Georgia Attorney General which provides the full law regarding monuments and the consequences for violating it. 

And while critics refer to them as reminders of an oppressive past in the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other organizations say they are a part of the region's history and culture. 

"They deserve the same respect as all American veterans and we believe that an attack on one set of veterans is an attack on all American veterans," the statement concludes. 

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