In 2015, I had the privilege of bestowing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights and Social Justice Legacy Awards at the Gaston County Courthouse next to the controversial Confederate monument, which is still a bone of contention in Gaston County.Fast forward to 2020, protests for and against the removal of the monument have been publicized in the news media for several months. The protestors’ rights are solidified by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which states,