Alabama bank slammed for Robert E. Lee, MLK holiday sign: ‘Pull your money out’

Alabama bank slammed for Robert E. Lee, MLK holiday sign: ‘Pull your money out’

Alabama and Mississippi are the only two states in the union to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee on the same day. Every year, notices reminding bank customers, teachers and post office visitors of the joint holiday on the third Monday in January draw confusion.

This year, Alabama celebrates the holiday Monday, January 16, 2023.

More recently, a photo of an Alabama-based bank commemorating the Confederate general alongside King has gone viral online.

“This office will be closed Monday, January 16 in observance of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” a flyer read outside of a CB&S Bank, according to a photo posted to Reddit Wednesday.

CB&S Bank is headquartered in Russellville and serves dozens of locations across Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. It is unclear when and at which location the photo was taken, and efforts by AL.com to reach CEO Mike Ross were not immediately successful.

“If you live in Alabama you should pull your money out of [CB&S Bank] immediately,” Brock Boone of the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a tweet Wednesday evening. “Unless you think Black Americans should be slaves.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is recognized nationally on the third Monday of January. For decades, Alabama has officially observed the birthday of Lee, a Confederate general born on Jan. 19, 1807 in Virginia, alongside the slain civil rights leader.

Read more: Renaming of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis schools will be first to test Alabama monuments law

Only Alabama and Mississippi combine a holiday honoring Lee and King, though Alabama lists Lee’s name second to King’s in its most recent calendar. Other states, including Florida and Tennessee, set aside a day for Lee but do not combine it with the King holiday and state offices remain open.

Previous efforts to end the joint holiday, including a 2020 bill that would give Lee his own day in October, have failed in the Alabama Legislature. Southern states began celebrating days honoring Lee and other Confederate leaders in the late 1800s.

“Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert E. Lee were two men with totally different agendas, beliefs and goals,” Sen. Vivian Figures, the author of the bill, told AL.com at the time. “To separate them as individual holidays is the right thing to do.”

Read more: Alabama lawmaker wants to separate King, Robert E. Lee holidays

Alabama also recognizes Confederate Memorial Day on April 24 and Jefferson Davis’ Birthday on June 5. Rosa Parks Day, on December 1, is commemoration only.

Juneteenth, a federal holiday recognizing the end of slavery, was recognized statewide in 2022. The legislature must still decide if it will become a permanent state holiday.