Here at US/ICOMOS we are intentional about highlighting the current events and statues that are filling the cultural preservation discourse of today. It is our role to provide listeners with stories and narratives that show them what is really happening with monuments of oppression. This won’t stop for as long as we’re around.
However, we also understand that there are amazing nonprofits and community action groups that have been doing this work for years. Organizations that have made it their mission to address issues in this space, as well as preserving the history of their communities through intentional preservation. These are the organizations that have paved a way for the Monuments Toolkit, and it would be a shame to not highlight them in some way.
This is what we’re doing on The Monumental Project. Every other month in between our narrative episodes, we’ll be sitting down with one organization in the cultural preservation or activism space. We want to hear their stories, how they feel about the current situations at hand, and what they plan on doing in the future. It’s these kinds of conversations that continue to uplift this field for the better.
This month we had the opportunity to speak with Wells Todd of Take Em Down Jacksonville.
Wells Todd is a native New Yorker and has been involved in the class struggle since the late 1970s. He has lived in Jacksonville for the past 21 years. He traveled to Cuba twice and Grenada in 1982 during its revolutionary period with the National Black Independent Political Party (NBIPP) delegation.
Recently he traveled to South Africa. While there he experienced how South Africa is addressing racism and white supremacy since the fall of Apartheid.
He was active in the 1199 Hospital Workers Union and the United Auto Workers Union (UAW). He is a founding member of the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition that led the movement that changed the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School and also pushed for the removal of Angela Corey who was the attorney for the Fourth Judicial circuit court. Over the past 5 year he has been a leader of Take Em Down Jax, working to remove confederate statues, monuments, bridge names and street names that celebrate white supremacy.
To connect with the Take Em Down Jax movement, the social handles and contact information is listed below:
- Take Em Down Jax on Facebook
- IG: @takeemdownjax
Email address: wellstodd625@gmail.com
For more information please call (904) 477-8979
Enjoy the episode!