NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — A group of Jessamine County pastors is practicing what they preach. A very diverse group is coming together, under Christian principles, to heal the community's racial divides. Over the past few years, the group's goal has been to move a confederate statue that sits in front of the county courthouse — to Maple Grove Cemetery.
For the last three decades, Pastor Moses Radford has been preaching at First Baptist Church in Jessamine County. He tells me that his mom named him Moses because, like his biblical namesake, she knew he'd be a leader. In the summer of 2020, he got clergy from around the county — Black, white, men, women, and a variety of denominations — to discuss race with the eventual goal of getting the confederate monument at the county's courthouse removed.
Pastor Radford says, "And by November we had a letter drawn up. One of the pastors wrote the letter up, we all viewed it, we all said yeah, it's really saying what we need to say about the removal of that statue."
The county government would have to get involved in order to get the statue removed from this lawn. And they explain that passing by here every day is a hurtful reminder that they're not being heard.
"Not to be heard, it hurt. It's still saying that you're not that important,” says Radford.
This is not the first time that groups in this community have tried to get this statue moved. These leaders tell me a high school student started a petition before the clergy submitted theirs to the fiscal court. So far, nothing has come of either. Despite not getting a response from local government, these pastors say they have heard each other and perspectives they've never considered.
Pastor Max Vanderpool of Generations Community Church says, "Pastors leading the way, it takes the politics out of it. Cause Americans right now are so red, blue, check off the entire box, but there are so many things we can come together and find agreement and compromise and make things work so that we can live together."
Admittedly, they say hearing each other’s stories was sometimes tough but they've gone back to their congregations — with the message that this mission is an extension of their Christian beliefs.
Pastor Beth Garrod-Logsdon of Wilmore Presbyterian Church says, "Jesus took on political authorities to help say 'hey this is what's right, this is how we should be doing it.' So it’s an extension of our call as pastors to live up to, 'one nation under God.'"
Pastor Radford says that he wants to start more dialogues. He says, "One of the things that I shared with the group early on when we first started meeting, when somebody was talking about it being history and there are still people today that say this is history—- 'y'all are erasing our history.' Well, my question is, is that the kind of history you really want?"
LEX 18 did reach out to Jessamine County's judge-executive about the group's attempts to move the monument.
"We look forward to continuing the discussion and education that will serve to unify the people of Jessamine County," said David K. West, Jessamine County Judge/Executive.
