The Southern Christian Leadership Conference president emeritus, Charles Steele Jr., arrived at the foot of the construction site for the Nathan B. Forrest monument in Old Live Oak Cemetery on Friday. Steele spoke on behalf of the SCLC, saying he is willing to make sacrifices to stop the monument’s construction.

“I am ready to be arrested for freedom,” Steele, who traveled from Atlanta to be with protestors at the monument, said. “We are about to make this a national march.”

Steele said he spoke with the SCLC’s executive board and they agreed unanimously for their organization to come to Selma and create a national march, adding he believed he could generate a march of up to 400,000 people.

“We are not going to stand by and let this happen,” Steele said in a press conference. “We are going to fill up the jails. Many folks think those days are over but we have to march and we have to demonstrate, we have to boycott those businesses that happen to be in support, we are going to shut them down and if America doesn’t stand up we will shut down America.”

Organizer of the monument protest, Faya Rose Toure, also called upon Bishop Tavis Grant, with the Rainbow Push Coalition.

During Friday’s press conference, Grant listed several national level officials and the Congressional Black Caucus that he and the Rainbow Push would call on and they would, “use every means necessary, including going to jail,” to stop the construction.

Grant responded to allegations the debate had political undertones.

“Well once the election is over we will still be here fighting this monument and the fact of the matter is this is beyond politics — this is public policy, this is a humanitarian issue and a community issue,” Grant said, adding the Forrest monument was not a monument to the Confederate dead. Grant said the monument to Forrest celebrates violence.

“[Forrest] is known historically and his record speaks for itself … We find it egregious and insulting and we are going to do all we can in our power to make sure this is not complete,” he said.

Pat Godwin, president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, currently constructing the monument, said this press conference is just a diversion.

“The real issue here is the theft of the Nathan B. Forrest bust,” Godwin said, who would not comment on the integrity of Forrest, but only the situation at hand. The bust of Forrest was stolen in March and police continue to investigate.