On Tuesday, August 15, Montana Legislator Shane Morigeau (HD 95) of Missoula wrote a letter to the Helena City Council asking them to remove a fountain put up by the Daughters of the Confederacy in 1916 because, he says, it represented hate and racism. By Friday, the fountain was on its way out and Morigeau sounded elated.

"I have to commend the commission for stepping up and removing that and for being strong on that issue," Morigeau said. "It has spurred a conversation, we need to have these conversations about what these things mean to non-whites. We need to realize that we can't just continue to white-wash history and we have to take in everyone's perspective on how these types of things make people feel and what they represent."

Morigeau said that watching the kind of protest the fountain removal received reinforced his position.

"I have pictures from a friend that lives over in Helena and there are people over there protesting with confederate flags, you know, which, to me, it justifies the whole reason to taking it down," Morigeau said. "It represents exactly what it stands for: racism and hate."

Morigeau said the fountain should not be placed on any public property and that he wouldn’t mind if it were destroyed altogether.

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