Florida mayor draws scrutiny after proposing ‘Confederate Memorial Day’

A central Florida mayor has come under fire after proposing a “Confederate Memorial Day” celebration later this month. 

Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn (R) on Tuesday signed a proclamation making April 26 “a time in which to honor the memories of those who sacrificed their lives in the War Between States,” The Washington Post reported Friday.

The paper noted that such language is often used to minimize Confederate wrongdoings. 

{mosads}After Guinn signed the order, which was not required to go through a vote, Ocala City Council President Mary Sue Rich dissented.

“I’m not proud of you doing a Confederacy proclamation standing up here in front of all these people in the city of Ocala. That turns my stomach,” Rich said at the meeting’s end. “I don’t think you deserve to be the mayor of Ocala. I hope somebody runs against you.”

She told reporters that she believes Confederate history belongs in museums. 

“I don’t think we need to have a special day in 2019 declaring Confederate Day in the city of Ocala,” she said. 

Ocala City Councilwoman Mary Rich is speaking out. She was not happy that the mayor presented a proclamation for Confederate Memorial Day, during last nights’ council meeting. pic.twitter.com/pUdYPPb0j3

— Myrt Price (@MPriceWFTV) April 3, 2019

Rich also referenced allegations that Guinn has ties to the Ku Klux Klan, an accusation he has vehemently denied. 

“I am not — repeat, not — in the KKK,”  he said during a press conference. “I never have been. I never will be, and I despise and hate everything that organization stands for.”

Guinn told the Post that the proclamation is “simply a memorial for Confederate soldiers who were veterans.”

But Civil War scholar Kevin Levin criticized Guinn for the language of the proclamation, saying it amplified a revisionist history.

“This is pure cowardice,” Levin wrote on Twitter. “Ocala, Florida Mayor Kent Guinn signs a proclamation for Confederate Memorial Day, but no effort is made to say what the war was about or what it resolved.”

Guinn said he has signed similar declarations in recent years and added that other county lawmakers also had done so. Confederate Memorial Day is an official holiday in Mississippi and Alabama and is considered a legal holiday by the state of Florida, the Post notes.