City officials agree the monument is long overdue in Savannah, which is 52 percent black. More than 40 plaques, pillars and statues adorn the city's historic squares and parks, honoring its colonial founders, religious leaders and Civil War heroes - none of them black. But some who welcome the monument, including Savannah's first black mayor, cringe at a quotation Jordan's supporters want inscribed at its base.
Nobody disputes the passage's brutal truth.
But critics say it's too harsh for a public monument on the promenade by the Savannah River, one of the city's hottest tourist spots. I myself wouldn't want to be reminded of that every time I look at it. History's a hell of a thing. It can hurt. Mayor Floyd Adams has likened the words to Georgia's former state flag with its Confederate symbol.