After discussion of the appropriateness of honoring Confederate symbols and leaders earlier this year, the drumbeat slowly began sounding to remove the statue of Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith from the hall and replace him with someone else — perhaps someone who most Floridians have actually heard of and, let's hope, someone without ties to the Confederacy.
Now Republican lawmaker Jose Felix Diaz, a state house member from Miami, has filed legislation to remove Smith's likeness from the collection. In a body where bills
Swapping out
We're an important state now, the third largest by population in the nation. We shouldn't be honoring some guy who moved out of Florida as a child and never returned.
But who should replace Smith? Diaz's bill doesn't specify; it only instructs that he be replaced by another "prominent Florida citizen."
Activists interested in equal representation have proposed he be replaced by a woman. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the conservationist and journalist who changed our perception of the Everglades, has been a frequent suggestion. Mary McLeod Bethune, an early civil rights activist dubbed "The First Lady of the Struggle," has also been suggested, though a sculpture of her likeness already stands in D.C.'s Lincoln Park.
Though Florida was a member of the confederacy, many of our current residents trace their heritage to the North or outside the U.S. As a result, the state has had less controversy when divesting itself of its Confederate past. When Jeb Bush removed a Confederate flag from the state capitol building in the late '90s, it was met with only a small chorus of complaints and generally went unnoticed.
As for John Gorrie, the air-conditioning pioneer, his spot is safe. Even if most don't know his name, no Floridian would disrespect the history of air conditioning in September.