Thousands Petition To Replace Confederate Monument With Late Actor Chadwick Boseman

Black Lives Matter protesters are calling for the removal of Confederate statues around the country. Community organizer DeAndre Weaver took it one step further, creating a petition on Change.org to replace a Confederate statue with Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman in his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina. The actor recently passed away from colon cancer.

“Mr. Boseman made it a mission to give back to his community. Not only with his appearances at his alma mater Howard University but financially as well,” reads the petition, which has almost 30,000 signatures. “Upon the release of his film Black Panther, Mr. Boseman took it upon himself to rent out a theatre in his home town of Anderson South Carolina to show the film for free. So that young boys and girls could be inspired by the film without the financial barrier. Mr. Boseman is without question an American treasure and his accolades go on and on. It is only fitting that his work is honored in the same place that birthed him.”

The organizer goes on to refer to the current statue of a Confederate soldier atop a platform that resides in front of the county courthouse with an inscription that reads “the world shall yet decide, in truth’s clear, far-off light, that the soldiers who wore the gray, and died with Lee, were in the right.”

“Many will agree that Mr.Boseman is without question worthy of such a monument in his home town, but I would like to go a step further,” he added. “I believe that Mr. Boseman is worthy of the spot that is currently occupied in the town square. For those unfamiliar with Anderson, where the confederate monument is currently located is in the center of the town. One cannot go downtown with[out] seeing or passing by this monument.”