Athens Confederate war memorial defaced with anti-ICE message

By Joe Johnson

Someone vandalized the Athens Confederate Monument in an apparent act of protest against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement operations.

According to a police report, the marble obelisk that bears the names of Athens soldiers killed during the American Civil War was spray-painted in red with the words Fuck ICE.

The damage was discovered on the morning of January 29th at the monument’s location on Timothy Place off Macon Highway.

It had formerly been located in the median strip of Broad Street near College Square until being relocated in 2021.

The Athens-Clarke County Commission voted to remove the monument from its original site in the wake of the national wave of anger that followed the death of George Floyd, who was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer. One result was a national outcry against Confederate monuments, and many in Athens said it was time to go for the monument to soldiers who died defending slavery.

The Athens obelisk, erected in 1872, was one of the first monuments to memorialize casualties of the Civil War to be raised in the South after the war's conclusion.

It recently became the target of the anti-ICE sentiment that is sweeping the nation following the shooting deaths of protesters in Minneapolis by federal agents.