Georgetown Mayor and Council approve a funding request from the Georgetown Historical Society.
Public comment lasted 2 hours, the majority of comments opposed to giving the society any funding for the Marvel Carriage Museum, which added a confederate monument in 2007 and still publicly flies the confederate battle flag.
The General Assembly struck the society from a list of grant recipients in 2019 and has cut off funding since then.
The society's request failed at the July 11th Town Council meeting by a vote of 2 yes and 2 no, but was given a rehearing on Monday night.
Councilman Penuel Barrett says the Museum helps the town in numerous ways.
“They've got a lot of history, this isn't racist," he said. "Everybody is one person, it doesn't matter your color. But you know what, if you go out to the Marvel Museum and ask them a question or ask them for help, guess what, they're not going to tell you no. They're asking for money, but the town, and I've lived in town for almost 30 years, they've never said no to the town.”
Councilwoman Christina Diaz-Malone says the museum needs the money for maintenance, but she believes the flag needs to come down.
“$25,000 is a drop in the bucket," she said. "The museum needs the repairs to make money. The flag needs to come down so the museum can make more money. To me, the monument is a monument. It needs to stay there. The names of those people there, if someone wants to have the names of the Union soldiers there next to them, fine, but let that be the decision of the town.”
Because the funding is not for the monument, but for parking lot upgrades and replacing windows and flooring, council approved it. But it added a memorandum of understanding that the society, community, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who maintain the monument, will form a committee to reach an agreement on the monument and flag.
"Let's get them the money tonight," Councilwoman Angela Townsend said. "And with that a committee would be formed to address the concerns whether it's the monument and the flag or just the flag or the monument and we'll go with that."
But opponents maintain funding the museum shows support for a racist flag, and described the museum as an embarrassment.
