A Kentucky historic commission has voted to keep a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the state Capitol rotunda.
The Historic Properties Advisory Commission on Wednesday voted 7-2 to keep the statute and to add an educational component to the display for the thousands of schoolchildren and other visitors who pass through the Capitol each year.
Both of Kentucky's candidates for governor have called for the statue's removal following the racially motivated slayings of nine black church members in South Carolina in June. The shootings prompted many Southern states to re-examine their Confederate symbols. South Carolina removed the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds.
Davis was born in Kentucky and graduated from Transylvania University in Lexington. Kentucky never joined the Confederacy, but a "shadow" Confederate government operated there.
