SOUTH CAROLINA: Lawsuit aiming to keep Calhoun statue in South Carolina moved to new court
A lawsuit aimed at blocking attempts to lend the city of Charleston’s John C. Calhoun statue to a Los Angeles art exhibit has been moved to a new court.
The case was originally filed in Charleston County’s probate court on Dec. 13 but was moved to South Carolina’s 9th Judicial Circuit Court as a civil case on Jan. 4 at the request of the plaintiffs’ attorney, Bill Connor.
Connor said he originally filed the suit as a probate matter because of the trust issues surrounding original ownership of the statue, but opted to go to circuit court for the ultimate resolution.
Justin Kahn, an adjunct professor at the Charleston School of Law, who is not connected to the case, said probate court typically handles trust disputes but, to be safe in handling the matter, it appears the strategy was to start in probate court first before moving to the circuit level.
Connor represents descendants of members of the Ladies Calhoun Monument Association and of Calhoun himself. He said he also plans to file a temporary restraining order to pause any further decisions about the statue’s use.
At the Charleston Commission on History’s Dec. 15 meeting, members voted 7-4 to recommend City Council approve lending the statue out for display, though a vote by council has not been scheduled.
“Shipping the historic statue to the LAXART exhibit in Los Angeles (with the potential to be shipped elsewhere and not come back to South Carolina) is, we believe, in clear violation of the Trust accepted by the city and against my client’s interests,” Connor wrote in an email Jan 5.
The 125-year-old statue depicts Calhoun, a congressman and vice president, who died years before the formation of the Confederacy but defended slavery and at one point delivered a speech calling it a “positive good.”
The city took the statue down from its perch in Marion Square in June 2020 after protests against police brutality and racial inequality reached new heights.
Los Angeles curator Hamza Walker has spent three years requesting access to decommissioned antebellum and Civil War monuments from across the U.S., including the statue of Calhoun.
The art exhibit is slated to open at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in fall 2023. The monuments will be displayed alongside a mix of existing and newly commissioned works of contemporary art.
The lawsuit states that when the Ladies Calhoun Monument Association planned to disband in 1898 and gave authority over to the city, the members intended for the statue to honor Calhoun and stay in the state.
City of Charleston officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.
“The Calhoun Monument was designed for the benefit of reminding ‘us all of the great Carolina statesman,’” the lawsuit states, referencing an 1898 letter from the monument association to the city.
–postandcourier.com
