HUNTSVILLE, Ala – The Madison County Commission passed a resolution in June to investigate options for relocation of the Confederate monument outside the courthouse in Huntsville. According to a report from our news partner, AL.com, the Committee on Alabama Monument Protection rejected the request to move the monument.

The committee said they lacked authority to respond because the statue is too old.

Local activist Remus Bowden said he isn’t surprised by the decision, but wonders why the county has prolonged the process while other cities across the state moved swiftly.

“I don’t see how anyone of color coming to this courthouse seeking the blind eyes of justice, for that to actually happen if you walk up to a courthouse where they are not parading a particular soldier, but they are parading the entire principles (of the confederacy),” said Bowden who also belongs to the Tennessee Valley Progressive Alliance.

It’s the very same organization that said they’ve raised money to cover the fine if the statue were to be removed. Attorney General Steve Marshall has required cities across the state to pay a $25,000 fine to remove Confederate monuments for violating the state’s Memorial Preservation Act.

“In this instance, doing what is right is extremely beyond doing what is legal,” Bowden said.

Birmingham and Mobile removed their statues and paid the fine. Both communities did not necessarily have community financial support to cover the fine.

“It’s actually really sad. It’s sad to think that we wave the banner of diversity and inclusion, yet we don’t perform the action,” Bowden said.

The City of Huntsville has offered Maple Hill Cemetery as a location to relocate the statue as confederate soldiers are buried there.

Chairman Strong has not responded to WHNT News 19’s requests for comment.