Activists are again pushing back against Jefferson Davis Park, a small memorial visible from Interstate 5 near Ridgefield.
On Aug. 21, about a dozen people demonstrated in front of the park. The demonstrators offered remarks and held signs that read, “We support unity in diversity.”
An additional “masks required, social distancing, peaceful event” has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, at the park, 24024 N.W. Maplecrest Road.
An unrelated rally organized by Black Lives Matter is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday in Esther Short Park in solidarity with Jacob Blake and Kenosha, Wis., where Blake was shot seven times in the back during an encounter with police.
Controversial park
The 10,019-square-foot park features two stone markers, one from Vancouver and the other from Blaine, that were originally part of a highway network meant to honor the Confederate president. After the Vancouver marker was displayed near the Covington House on Main Street for more than 50 years, the city in 1998 placed it in storage.
The stone was placed in the Clark County Historical Museum, though the United Daughters of the Confederacy continued its ownership. In 2006, when the museum underwent a construction project, it asked the Daughters to find a new home for it.
One year later, the Sons of Confederate Veterans Pacific NW Division installed both markers at the current site, which now also includes a Confederate flag atop a 30-foot pole.
The park is one of three publicly viewable Confederate symbols in the state, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Following efforts from civil rights organizations including the local NAACP, the monument was removed in 2017 from the Clark County Heritage Register.
Vandalism target
The site has been a target of vandalism on several occasions, including in the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 and the death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police officers earlier this year.
SCV Pacific NW Commander Rick Leaumont said in July that the organization does not plan to remove the park, which is located on private property, and has installed additional security measures.
At the Aug. 21 demonstration, Bridgette Fahnbulleh, president of the local NAACP, said that she often wonders what Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War would think of the monument.
“That is who we honor today, those white men who sacrificed their lives,” Fahnbulleh said, according to a news release Tuesday. “We ask the questions, ‘Why would we fly a flag that they died under? Why would we build a monument for generals who planned their deaths?’ ”
‘Counter-message’
Elizabeth Madrigal, a Ridgefield activist who was part of the effort to remove the park from the heritage register, said that she hopes the signs, some of which were planted nearby, will act as a counter-message in front of the park.
“Our signs are intended to give the beautiful people of Ridgefield, and other little towns in Clark County, a unified voice in support of a message of inclusion,” Madrigal said.
The group, which also includes the Rev. Joe Scheeler of All Saints Episcopal Church in Vancouver, plans to distribute the signs over the next few months and advocate to state and local leaders for counter-signage between the park and the interstate, according to the news release.
The Ridgefield protest on Friday, called “March For The Dream,” is scheduled for 2 to 5 p.m. To promote social distancing, organizers are hoping to limit the gathering to 50 people, according to a flyer announcing the event.
To RSVP and for more information, text event organizers Philip Samwel at 360-608-6240 or Donna Thompson at 360-606-9319.
