Demonstrators gathered again Tuesday evening at the Confederate Monument in Forest Park, which had been hit by vandals overnight for the second time in a week.
Dozens of people, supporting and opposing the monument, met at the statue. A similar clash occurred there a week earlier, and it was hit by vandals that day, too.
Alex Milberg, of St. Charles, said that despite visiting Forest Park many times, he didn’t know the monument existed until he learned it had been vandalized.
He said that although he understood why some people may feel offended by the monument, he was most concerned about a ripped and spray-painted American flag that someone had draped in front of it.
“The blatant disrespect of the flag hurts their point of view,” Milberg, who is in the military, said of the protesters who want the monument removed.
He said he believed more people might be willing to listen to their perspective if they hadn’t denigrated the flag.
Demonstrators who heard Milberg’s perspective argued that the monument’s symbolism, which many people see as offensive, is of more importance.
Kitt Wroth was among demonstrators who spent several minutes debating the purpose and meaning of the monument with those who defended it.
Wroth argued that the monument represented oppression and challenged what she saw as hypocrisy in supporting those she called traitors who wanted to secede from the nation during the Civil War while ignoring the feelings of fellow Americans.
She walked with a small group of demonstrators to the nearby Missouri History Museum to distribute pamphlets about their opposition to the monument at an outdoor concert. Museum staff insisted demonstrators stay on the sidewalk.
Anna Baltzer was attending the Twilight Tuesday event at the museum with her family. She said the museum was contradicting its message by having an exhibit celebrating the civil rights movement inside but restricting peaceful protests outside.
“I think I’ll join them,” she said, holding her toddler in her arms.
Peggy Hubbard was among the defenders of the monument, which she called “a learning tool.”
She questioned why the number of other lasting representations of slavery weren’t also under fire, including the Old Courthouse where the famous Dred Scott case affirming slavery was decided.
“If you walk through St. Louis there are vestiges of oppression and slavery throughout the city,” Hubbard said.
She argued that money being raised to remove the monument should be used to invest in low-income neighborhoods.