Under the hot Texas sun on Saturday, September 14th, a protest group rallied by Southwestern’s Dr. Ron Swain gathered by the Confederate monument on Georgetown’s square. Dr. Swain has organized “Move the Monument” protests for about a year. He and others advocate for removing the Confederate monument from the square because it symbolizes a time that was not welcoming to anyone unless they were white. 

Several speakers spoke in front of about 60 people, sharing insight and telling their own stories. 

Speaker Jason Norwood, a teacher at Georgetown High School, provided words for the crowd: “I will not celebrate racism, I will not celebrate dehumanization, [and] I will not celebrate human trafficking.” This statement spoke to the protestors’ intentions, advocating for a safer space.

Following Norwood, Dr. Swain outwardly called out Georgetown’s elected officials, “It’s been said by some of our leaders that we don’t have a problem because black people don’t protest this monument.” An idea is disproved by Dr. Swain’s protests, and those gathered. 

The next speaker, Avey Norwood, a sophomore at Georgetown High School, shared her feelings on how the monument makes her feel. She directly spoke to all listeners: “This monument of evil confederates [portrays] how racist people can be.” She continues to express her concerns about the history tied to Confederate practices, regarding slavery and how the “culture and finances benefited from the South.” In response to Norwood’s powerful words, Dr. Swain insisted that “when our young adults speak, our generation should listen.” 

Allison Andron, Professor of Technical Writing at Austin Community College and Pflugerville family ancestor, discussed her family’s history. She shared that her ancestors “purchased [themselves] a person, Martha; she was sixteen.” Andron asked the audience: “If Martha’s life was so good, why didn’t she take my family’s name? Why did she leave?” Andron educated the audience on the importance of freedom, and pushed for the advocacy of freedom in Williamson County. 

Shawn Maganda, a senior at Southwestern University, shared a hate crime that he experienced last fall, in which a car of white men followed him driving home from work, calling out slurs. He paralleled this experience to the monument, stating “it’s not here only to insult me, but to let me know that I do not have the same rights that they did.” He called out the hypocrisy of letting it “stay on the square because it is part of our history.” He informs the audience that this “history” is merely one that “places white people in the center, and moves everyone else’s experiences to the margins.” 

The last speaker was Southwestern’s very own Dr. David Ortiz, Vice President for Equity, Accountability, and Inclusive Excellence. New to both Georgetown and Southwestern, he emphasized the discomfort long surrounding the issue: “We are at a crossroads in the city of Georgetown.” Dr. Ortiz discussed the concept of “radical hospitality,” calling the statue “stoic and silent” and that “it tells the story of a bygone era bound in ink of conflict and controversy like an old weathered book.” Dr. Ortiz questioned the audience if they were ready for the “next chapter” of their own story, and wants the Georgetown community to move forward from the past norms, because “norms change.”

The protest ended with the performance of a song titled “I Need You to Survive,” and the majority of the crowd sang along with the speakers. For future related activities, Dr. Swain announced that on October 15 at 7pm there will be a film screening of the documentary titled “Neutral Ground” at the Georgetown Public Library. The next “Move the Monument” protest will take place at the same time and place on November fourteenth. Dr. Swain proudly stated: “We are gonna get the attention of our county commissioners and if we can’t get their attention, we are going to replace them. We are here advocating freedom and justice for all.”