Memorial planned for Andrew Young
On a sweltering St. Augustine evening in June 1964, civil rights leader Andrew Young led a group of 300 marchers from St. Mary's Church to the corner of St. George and King streets, where a waiting mob of white men knocked Young to the ground and beat and kicked him.
On a sweltering St. Augustine evening in June 1964, civil rights leader Andrew Young led a group of 300 marchers from St. Mary's Church to the corner of St. George and King streets, where a waiting mob of white men knocked Young to the ground and beat and kicked him.
The bloody Young, beaten three times, stood up after each attack and continued marching.
The St. Augustine City Commission, on a motion by Commissioner Errol Jones, voted last week to commemorate Young's courage and leadership during his June 9, 1964 "March to the Plaza."
They decided to spend "not more than $10,000" to build a 6-foot by 25-foot concrete, granite and bronze monument to be installed June 4 on the Plaza de la Constitucion.
Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she was "shocked by the price tag" of up to $10,000.
"It's pretty elaborate for a sidewalk," she said. "It'll go to $15,000 before we know it."
Mayor Joe Boles and Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman were both absent.
Commissioner Bill Leary said the significance of the march was the support it gave to the nonviolent message of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a critical time.
The march's peaceful reaction to brutal mob violence "broke the (congressional) filibuster and led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act," he said.
City officials said Jeremy Marquis of Halback & Associates, a design firm in St. Augustine, offered his services to design the monument at no cost.
However, the commission won't discuss possible designs until April 11, when Marquis submits his drawings and all the absent commissioners have returned.
Marquis did outline a possible visual concept: The memorial sidewalk would replicate Young's footprints, symbolically leading into the future and also illustrating his willingness to "cross over and reason with the mob on the other side of the street."
Monument visitors could walk in those steps or beside them, he said. "Either has a lot of symbolism."
Jones said the sidewalk should be a gift by the city to its residents, adding that some who marched are no longer here or would not be here long.
"Andrew Young has talked about St. Augustine being a major focal point for 2014 (the 50th anniversary of the city's civil rights struggles)," Jones said, adding that he expects some political and other celebrities to come down for the dedication.
Leary said he sees a need for some explanation of the memorial's context.
"Many students today don't know who Andrew Young is," he said. "I'd hate to have such a beautiful monument here and have people in 20 years from now ask, 'What is this?'"St. A
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