BLM marches in Mount Pleasant Saturday

The anti-racist group Black Lives Matter held a peaceful march and protest rally in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, June 20th, 2020.

Approximately 200 people marched from the Civic Center to the Downtown Square chanting anti-racist slogans. They rallied in the South East corner of the square, adjacent to the Confederate Monument.

The crowd held prayers and was addressed by the organizers including Vinson Hurdon and Te'Shayla Fleming, as well as by County Judge, Brian Lee. Mayor Tracy Craig was also in attendance.

The protesters stated that they wanted the Confederate Monument legally removed because tearing it down would likely just lead to it being rebuilt. There were about thirty to forty counter-protestors assembled around the base of the monument.

The Confederate Monument was erected in the square, with the approval of Titus County Commissioners, by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1912, some forty seven years after the end of the Civil War. It is a typical, generic Confederate monument, one of several hundred that went up all over the South during the Jim Crow era. There is nothing on the monument of local historical significance, such as names of Titus County citizens that died in the Civil War.

The lead organizer of this protest was Te'Shayla Fleming, a 2016 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School. Her objective was to peacefully protest and raise local awareness of the bad things that have been going on in the country recently and try to get the monument removed as many local citizens consider it abhorrent. She said that she had received numerous threats via social media in the past week. Organizing the protest had been carried out in conjunction with City of Mount Pleasant who she said had been cooperative in the planning of the march.

Vinson Hurndon is leading the petition signature drive and claims to have 800 to 900 signatures so far. The goal is to get at least 2,000 signatures and get a proposition to remove the Confederate Monument from the square onto the November 2020 ballot.

Local law enforcement had a strong presence throughout the march route and in the square. The City of Mount Pleasant Police were out in force, as were Titus County Sheriff’s deputies. The Sheriff himself Tim Ingram was leading law enforcement efforts in person by the monument.

Other law enforcement personnel including the Constables and Titus County Fresh Water Supply District were also on hand. There were police spotters on roofs of building around the square plus a drone hovering overhead.
Sheriff's Deputies made two arrests prior to the march arriving in the square.

One black man and one white man were arrested for disorderly conduct when a scuffle occurred near the monument. The protesters dispersed peacefully after the rally was finished.