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Mississippi town torn over statue some deem racist

Posted at 7:28 PM, Jan 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-14 20:33:14-05

(WDAM) People in the city of Laurel, Mississippi are torn over a statue that some deem racist.

Faye Jackson has lived in Laurel her whole life, and says she was shocked when neighbors told her about the statue.

"When you first look, they have tools in their hand and it just looks like men that are working. Because of the colors of the statues, it looks like black men that are working on a slave box," she says.

People also came to the defense of the statue.

Chad Edwards says he is a good friend of the artist behind the artwork and said it's "embarrassing" for anyone to think the statue is racist.

"To even look at it and see a color is beyond absurd," Edwards says. "It's rust. It's iron that rusted outside. It's a human body form...a stick figure."

Sculptor Jason Kimes says it's all a misunderstanding.

"I can't say anymore than what I made it for," he says.

Kimes says he was contacted by a manufacturing facility in South Carolina to create a piece that will honor the workforce of that company.

"You got the strong muscled guy with the big hammer in the middle ready to do the job that he's doing," Kimes says. "You got another character on the side with the ladle who seems like he's more in charge or quasi supervisor. You got the guy on the other end, the thinner person, that to me appears to be the younger upstart who's learning from the old men."

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