The just lately eliminated statue of white supremacist former Governor Theodore Bilbo is now sitting in a storage closet within the state Capitol in Jackson, in line with a Mississippi Home clerk.

Andrew Ketchings informed reporters that it was his determination to take away the statue and that he had been bothered by it for years "due to every thing [Bilbo] stood for." It's now in a closet behind one of many constructing's elevators, draped in a hearth blanket.

Bilbo served as governor from 1916 to 1920 and once more from 1928 to 1932, then joined the Senate in 1935 till his demise in 1947. Whereas in workplace, he advocated for Black Individuals to be deported to Africa to protect "racial purity," in line with the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The statue had been on show for many years, first within the heart of the Capitol, then in a Home committee room because the Eighties, in line with the Related Press. Ketchings, who was a part of the Mississippi Home within the late Nineties and early 2000s, stated the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus was assembly within the room the place the statue was final standing and Black lawmakers requested that or not it's moved.

Ketchings informed reporters "it was well beyond time" to take away the statue and he felt extra strongly in regards to the concern after studying by means of Bilbo's quotes.

Theodore Bilbo, statue, Mississippi
A statue of white supremacist former Mississippi Governor Theodore Bilbo was quietly moved out of sight within the state Capitol in October. Above, the statue stands out from the again of a first-floor convention room on the Capitol on January 22, 2009, in Jackson, Mississippi.Rogelio V. Solis, File/AP Photograph

Bilbo tried to dam racial justice laws at each flip in his profession, the Encyclopedia Britannica stated. He as soon as filibustered to attempt to block a proposed anti-lynching invoice, saying stopping lynching would "open the floodgates of hell within the South," including that rape, mobs, extra lynching and extra would improve "a thousandfold" and "red-blooded Anglo-Saxon White Southern males won't tolerate" this, Mississippi Right now reported.

Ketchings stated a piece crew moved Bilbo's roughly life-sized statue in October utilizing $4,000 to $5,000 of public cash, in line with AP. State Consultant Lee Yancey informed Mississippi Right now that shifting it couldn't have been a simple job.

"He's 5-foot-2 and weighs 1,000 kilos, so he didn't go willingly," Yancey stated.

The Mississippi Right now report stated most individuals within the Capitol didn't discover that the statue was lacking till final week regardless of it being gone because the legislative session started on January 4.

Earlier than Ketchings got here ahead about eradicating it, folks had been baffled over the place it had gone, with state Consultant Tom Miles telling the native information website it was just like the "The place's Waldo?" of the Capitol.

The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus didn't instantly reply to Newsweek's request for remark.

Replace 2/9/22, 4:38 p.m. ET: This story was up to date with extra data.