After week of protests, Columbia lawmaker says Ben Tillman statue should be removed
A South Carolina lawmaker says the statue of known white supremacist and segregationist Ben Tillman must come down from State House grounds amid nationwide protests, including in the lawmaker’s home town of Columbia, to end racism and police brutality.
State Rep. Seth Rose, a Columbia Democrat, plans to file a joint resolution when lawmakers return to Columbia this month that directs the removal of Tillman’s statue from the Capitol complex.
The resolution echoes actions to remove controversial statues by other state leaders over the past few weeks after George Floyd, a black man from Minnesota, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Four officers have since been charged in Floyd’s death.
“I feel that it’s important because we need to unify and bring our community and country together, and I think we all need to soul search and be a part of the solution,” Rose said. “And when I look into what more can I do, I can’t turn a blind eye to walking to the State House chamber and having to pass a statue in honor of a man who took great pride in murdering and punishing African Americans.”
Lawmakers have tried, and failed, to remove “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman’s statue before. Tillman, a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. senator, was also a member of an all-white, post-Civil War militia responsible for lynching black people.
S.C. House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, filed a similar proposal years ago, but it never made it out of committee. Instead of removing the statue, Rutherford this week suggested putting Tillman’s speeches on the monument.
“I would prefer that people know that evil does exist and it exists in the face of Tillman,” he said.
And Tillman is hardly the only controversial statue on State House grounds.
The state Capitol lawn also honors J. Marion Sims, the father of modern gynecology, according to the S.C. Medical Association, who also was known to use slave women and children as guinea pigs for testing his gynecology treatments.
Rose’s proposal will certainly face a myriad of hurdles in the Legislature.
Aside from critics, Rose is only filing his resolution this month, after the official legislative session has already ended. Lawmakers don’t plan to return to Columbia until the last week in June when they are limited in what they can take up. The Legislature’s sine die resolution — outlining when and for what lawmakers can return to Columbia, such as COVID-19 — doesn’t include new legislation.
But Rose’s proposal could mark the revival of a debate over whether to remove the Tillman statue from the grounds. If his bill goes nowhere this year, he can refile it in January, when the new legislative session begins.
Rose also said Tillman, who was not a Confederate War soldier, should not be protected by the Heritage Act.
The now 20-year-old Heritage Act prohibits removal of any state monument, marker, memorial, school or street that honors war monuments or memorials and any Native American or African American monuments or memorials.
According to state law:
“No Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, War Between the States, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Native American, or African-American History monuments or memorials erected on public property of the State or any of its political subdivisions may be relocated, removed, disturbed, or altered. No street, bridge, structure, park, preserve, reserve, or other public area of the State or any of its political subdivisions dedicated in memory of or named for any historic figure or historic event may be renamed or rededicated.”
It also prohibits anyone from preventing the care and upkeep of monuments and memorials protected under the law.
The Heritage Act requires a two-thirds majority to do anything prohibited by the law, such as the removal of the Confederate flag from State House grounds, which lawmakers succeeded at in 2015.
State House leaders have long rejected repealing or amending the act, with the exception of moving the Confederate flag.
“I do not believe the Heritage Act covers this, but I do think those that would like to defend having “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman would like to hide behind that,” Rose said. “Ben Tillman does not fit under the Heritage Act based on his credentials.”
Rose also called on Gov. Henry McMaster to form a committee to review statues on the Capitol complex.
A joint House-Senate committee exists and is charged with reviewing proposals to alter or renovate the State House. The governor’s spokesman Brian Symmes said McMaster has spoken with lawmakers over the past week about the protests, and said the governor always has an open-door policy with lawmakers who “share a common goal of bettering the lives of South Carolinians.”
Senate Majority Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said he’s not had any conversations with Democrats or Republicans about removing monuments, but added it’s likely there will be more opposition to doing so than after the Charleston shootings.
“I think people are going to see monuments as different from the flag,” he said. “I wouldn’t support it. I think Ben Tillman was one of the most evil S.O.B.’s that ever lived. It’s a reminder of where this state has been, and part of my charge is to make sure that we don’t go back there.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2020 at 11:22 AM.
