Activists hold $500k Confederate statue at ransom threatening to turn it ‘into a toilet’

‘We took their toy, and we don’t feel guilty about it’

A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, unveild in 1907, stands in the middle of Monument Avenue 23 August, 2017 (Getty Images)

An "anti racist action group” in Alabama has claimed responsibility for the theft and ransom of a confederate monument, saying it will be “turned into a toilet” if their demands are not met.

The ornately carved stone chair, dedicated to Jefferson Davis in 1893 and estimated to be worth $500,000 was stolen from Old Live Oak Cemetery in Selma last month, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.

In emails to local media on Monday the group, named “White Lies Matter” have reportedly claimed credit for the theft, which is thought to have occurred around 19 March , the newspaper said.

The message sent to The Advertiser and AL.com included a proof-of-life type photo of the chair, a ransom note styled to look like it came from the 1800s and a photograph of what appeared to be the theft of the chair.

"We took their toy, and we don’t feel guilty about it," the letter reportedly read. "They never play with it anyway. They just want it there to remind us what they’ve done, what they are still willing to do.”

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White Lies Matter is reportedly not demanding cash but rather asking that the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) agree to hang a banner outside its Richmond, Virginia, headquarters in return for the safe delivery of the chair.

They are said to have already sent the UDC the large banner, which features a quote from Assata Shakur, and want it to be hung on the anniversary of the Confederacy’s surrender in the Civil War for 24 hours.

“Failure to do so will result in the monument, an ornate stone chair, immediately being turned into a toilet,” the email reportedly states. “If they do display the banner, not only will we return the chair intact, but we will clean it to boot.”

Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster, in 1973, escaped from prison in 1979 and has lived in exile in Cuba since 1984.

The quote from Shakur on the banner reads: "The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives.” White Lies Matter said the banner had already been delivered to the UDC.

“Like most Confederate monuments,” the White Lies Matter email reportedly continued, “[the chair] mostly exists to remind those who’s freedom had to be purchased in blood, that there still exists a portion of our country that is more than willing to continue to spill blood to avoid paying that debt down.”

“Nobody knows what to make of this, it’s just really strange,” Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson told The Washington Post. “But you get used to ‘The Twilight Zone’ in Selma. Rod Serling would have a good time if he were down here himself.”

There is a $5,000 reward leading to information about the disappearance of the chair, which was previously displayed in the Confederate Circle in Selma’s Old Live Oak Cemetery, The Advertiser said.

AL.Com reported that a woman who answered the phone at the Virginia offices of the UDC said she had heard the reports of the theft and ransom demand were “fake news”.

There was no immediate response to an email to the organisation from AL.Com and the Montgomery Advertiser seeking further comment. The Independent has contacted the UDC.