Phillips wants the commission to ignore restrictions on Plaza after Orangedale marker stolen

At the request of temperance-matron Nancy Sikes-Kline, the City Commission meeting Monday night will be interrupted by a presentation of up to ten-minutes to hear from Regina “Gayle” Phillips, Director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center.  Phillips was one of seven members chosen by white apologist City Manager, John Regan, to affect the outcome of the Confederate Memorial Contextualization Advisory Committee last year.

As if the city manager’s acquiescence to Ronald Rawls illegal disturbance of the peaceful, tax-paying business establishments in the city wasn’t enough, now he has agreed to entertain Phillips’ racially divisive rhetoric before the full city commission on Monday, August 26, 2019.

She, and her hangers-on cronies, backed by an out-of-state agenda-driven charity, try to tap dance around restrictions on new memorials, monuments and other markers that limit such construction for a reason.  She got away with spending nearly $15,000 of tax-payer money to espouse unsettled and disputed St Augustine history in our public square.

So, what is to become of truth and authentic history displayed in the Plaza de la Constitution?  The Ladies Memorial Association of St Augustine Inc comes to mind.  They are successors to Anna Maria Dummett and the local families who paid for and erected the Confederate Veterans memorial in 1897.  They now suffer, at the hands of Phillips and her ilk, as their authentic historic artifact has been dishonored by images of “white supremacy” — a term unknown in 19th century St Augustine but made popular by race-baiting wailers in the 20th and 21st-century.

Just last year, the Equal Justice Initiative provided Phillips and her sympathizers with a marker identifying Isaac Barrett who was hanged from an oak tree in Orangedale. The location, close to where he was killed, was near the St. Johns River off North County Road 13. It was an appropriate marker to be placed at the historically accurate site of the crime.

• The lynching took place at the hands of twelve men infuriated by Barrett’s confession that he had attacked and severely beaten the man he worked for, his wife and children. Two of the family died in the attack. 

• Before the dedication ceremony, the marker went missing, forcing the group to erect a temporary sign for its ceremony.  There is no connection between this crime and the residents of the City of St Augustine.  It occurred 21.4-miles away in unincorporated St Johns County.  But, if Phillips gets her way again, she will advertise her message of hate in our town’s most protected city block.

Agenda Item 7.A.2. Presentation by Gayle Phillips of the Community Remembrance Committee St Augustine requesting placement of a historic marker in the plaza regarding the lynching of Isaac Barrett. (Commissioner Sikes-Kline).

If you plan to attend the City Commission meeting on Monday evening, plan to arrive early.  Register at the door to the Alcazar Room if you care to comment during the meeting.  Mayor Upchurch will recognize each speaker and call them to the podium.  You may address the commission for up to 3-minutes, per speaker.  The meeting room is on the ground floor of the Lightner Museum – City Hall building located at 75 King Street (32084).  The meeting begins promptly at 5:00 p.m.  The meetings stream live online at CityStaugTV.com and are broadcast simultaneously on GTV on Comcast Channel 3.  City Commission meetings are available within 24 hours online and on-demand.