Protesters Demand Removal of Statue at Kennebec County Courthouse

There were multiple demonstrations that happened Saturday in Augusta including both a Trump rally near the statehouse and a smaller rally at the Kennebec County Courthouse calling for the removal of a statue depicting Supreme Court Justice Melville Fuller sitting in a chair.

According to the Kennebec Journal, protesters at the courthouse say that the Maine-born judge was instrumental in the Supreme Court's 1896 decision that upheld legal segregation. Melville voted with the majority in that decision and the votes fell 7-2. The Plessy v. Ferguson case is just one of the several reasons demonstrators say the statue must come down.

According to Wikipedia.org,

Born in Augusta, Maine, he established a legal practice in Chicago after graduating from Bowdoin College. He also served as a newspaper editor and managed Democrat Stephen A. Douglas's campaign in the 1860 presidential election. During the Civil War, he served a single term in the Illinois House of Representatives, and political opponents would later claim that he was an anti-war Copperhead. Fuller became a prominent attorney in Chicago and was a delegate to several Democratic national conventions.

While the Kennebec County Commission has no immediate plans to remove the statue, they are working to vet the Judge's past. We will continue to follow this story and report on any decisions made by the commission regarding whether the statue is to stay or go.

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