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Protest Over Alleged Burial Mound
Friday night protestors held a demonstration in Oxford at the foot of a large hill. They believe it's a Native American burial mound being bull-dozed in the name of progress. Native American stories surround Signal Hill in Oxford - but which one is true?
Mayor Leon Smith says, "The history says that they used it to send smoke signals up."
But Sharon Jackson, a Native American minister organizing the protest, says "It is a burial mound. the contention that is was used to do smoke signals is ridiculous."
What happened fifteen hundred years ago is debatable but one fact holds. As the city scrapes away fill dirt for what Mayor Leon Smith promises will be a water treatment plant, a protest is brewing. Some historians claim it is the largest mound in the state, and it's being whittled away.
According to Jackson, "There are so many Native American artifacts, so many scared places. There is so much that is already gone."
Smith says the city of Oxford paid the University of Alabama $7,000 to test the soil for traces of human remains.
Smith says, "If there are remains up there, I haven't found it out."
But Jackson believes "the city has their own agenda and it's more ignorance than anything."
Smith says what's happening now is not as drastic as protestors think. The city plans to cut down one third of the hill then flatten the top and cover it in kudzu. If remains are found, they'll be reburied there.
Smith says "I'm not trying to hurt anybody, Indians or anybody else. I'm trying to do what's best for this community."
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