A group of Paris, Tennessee residents said they had reason to believe that members of ANTIFA or Black Lives Matter wanted to tear down a statue of a Confederate soldier perched at their local courthouse square.
According to the U.S. Census numbers, Paris has slightly more than 10,000 people.
Local residents said a woman who grew up there, Rachel Allison, who now resides in Los Angeles, encourages people to remove the statue from a distance of 2,000 miles away.
The statue, which the locals refer to as The Sentinel, is 120 years old. The statue symbolically faces the north, almost as if it’s tracking a possible invasion from the Union Army, said Rick Revel, a local who has taught and written books about American history.
Revel said he and other people in town heard a few weeks ago that ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter were on their way to the statue.
“The word went out on a Saturday evening that this would take place. Therefore, the message went out like the Minutemen of old, and I was one of the first to arrive [to guard the statue]. There were probably two to three of us who got there at the same time, 10 minutes after the signal went out,” Revel said.
“There were some people driving around in cars shouting ‘Black Lives Matter’ and honking their horns. Of course, everybody there by the statue yelled back ‘All Lives Matter.’ It was pretty much a tit for tat that you would normally see at something like that. It did dissipate and by 10 p.m. it ended. It wasn’t violent. It was all peaceful.”
Henry County Commissioner David Webb, who is also the County Historian, told The Tennessee Star Monday that the rumor that members of BLM or ANTIFA were on their way originated out of Murray, Kentucky. There, Murray State University students peacefully protested a Confederate statute.
“I think some people got confused. There was no group that was planning to take it down or deface it. It was just a rumor,” Webb said.
“In response to that rumor there was a group of people that showed up to defend the statue, if that were to happen. There was nothing to it, once the dust settled down.”
Allison posted a petition on Change.org demanding the statue’s removal.
The Star contacted a Rachel Allison on Facebook who said she originally hails from Paris, Tennessee but now lives in Los Angeles. That Rachel Allison did not reply as of press time.
But Allison, on her petition, said it’s time to “stop glorifying” Confederate soldiers “who fought for their right to have slaves.”
“This statue sets us back centuries and needs to be removed in order to better reunite all of our communities,” Allison said.
“The biggest problem with old Southern heritage is that people believe that the Confederates are a sign of ‘Southern pride’ which in reality it is symbolizing racism, the slavery of black men and women, and segregation. It is time we move past this and look to the future and I believe taking down this statue is the first move.”
Revel, meanwhile, said another online petition opposes Allison’s.
“Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State, so named after Davy Crockett and the Tennesseans who died at the Alamo,” the counter petition said.
“Henry County is also known as the Volunteer County in the Volunteer State. All history matters.”
Webb told The Star that it’s highly likely the statue will stay exactly where it is.
“If the statue were to be moved or relocated or renamed or anything done with it then first there would have to be a vote of the county commission since it is county property. The statue falls under the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, which is a state law. That addresses all monuments, memorials, plaques, statues, and anything historical. A petition would then have to go to the Tennessee Historical Commission, and they would have to vote on that,” Webb said.
“If you read the act there is also a clause in there that states an automatic denial if it is on the National Register of Historic Places. And the statue is. Because it’s part of the Paris Commercial District that is on the National Register. Basically, it is a non-starter, even if the County Commission wanted to take it down. The Tennessee Historical Commission is not going to approve that, not unless there is some compelling reason why it should be moved. Right now there are no plans to do so.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Do NOT allow this to happen. All it is is a front for more demands. BLM is nothing but a marxist party attempting to destroy America. If you give them an inch, you’ve got big problems.
She doesn’t live there anymore. She doesn’t vote there or pay taxes there anymore, so screw her!
I think its wrong this is part of history nothing more quit crying grow up
RECTAL ALLISON YOU DON’T LIVE IN TENNESSEE ANYMORE SO GET YOU FRACKING HYPOCRISY OUT OF TENNESSEE.
You let them do this and what is next if they don’t your home will you let take it down if they get by with this will tell you what you can’t do and can’t do think about it
Take down the hate!
Speaking of “taking down the hate”, there’s a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Seattle which apparently still stands.
“We must hate. Hatred is the basis of communism. Children must be taught to hate their parents if they are not communists.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Then there’s BLM who are lead by admitted “trained Marxists” the actions of whom follow what Lenin said.
But unlike intolerant Marxists and Communists, I would let it stand as a testament to Communist history and the slavery, poverty and murder it inflicted millions and perchance be some education for today’s “useful idiots”; Lenin’s words for his Bolshevik street thugs.
You, yourself, are the personification of “hate”…
Beatrice, once again your ignorance & intolerance is laughable. The vast majority of Confederate foot soldiers never owned slaves. They were mostly poor, hardworking farmers, defending their homes from an invading army of fellow Americans. If you took the time to read actual history instead of Libtard propaganda you might actually learn something.
And by the way, when was the last time the angry mobs of BLM & Antifa actually built something? It seems all they can do is riot, loot, vandalize, burn, assault, etc.
inanimate objects know no hate. only humans know that. so sorry about your place in our world.
Bea, I’m surprised you were able to spell all of those word correctly.
Anybody know ‘Beatrice Shaw’? Where she works? Where she lives?? Get her fired and evicted from her house!!
Tell the jerks who want to remove the statute to go to Hell! They are to ones running around trying to change history because it is fashionable in some of these more ignorant states.
Whatever happened to the liberal ideal of “tolerance and diversity”? It’s morphed into leftist authoritarianism the bigotry and reactionary hate of which must be appeased by the threat of criminal violence.
Rachel didn’t explain in her petition the historical context of the statue but that doesn’t matter to the cancel culture left. For the far left to advance their socialist and eventual communist platform history must be erased and replaced with their own narrative. Rachel probably has to try extra hard too in LA as once people hear her talk they probably assume she is a conservative Republican.
Ma. Allison no longer resides here not has a say in the events that occur here. Another trouble maker. And this one from far away. Don’t give in to bullies.. this is part of OUR history. ALL our history. Whether Ms. Allison likes it or not. None of us were born during these ages and she will NOT change what has happened in the past.
Don’t let others disturb our town !!! Take care of business in your own state !! Paris, don’t let this happen.
This article proves one thing for sure…..that all the efforts of the Henry County School system to teach history, proved to be a total failure to teach this ignorant woman, Rachel Allison, basic history of the Civil War. Everyone who listened in American and Tennessee history class would have learned that a large majority of Civil War Soldiers were too poor to own slaves! Rachel Allison obviously slept through all those classes.
all folks like rachel believe history began when they were unfortunately born.
And according to a complete history, there were other issues other than slavery which precipitated the Civil War. Slavery was practiced in Union States and President Lincoln wrote the following in August 1862 to Horace Greeley “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”
[Library of Congress]
Im glad you said iam so tierd of hering on side of the problem remember there is two sides to every story