Charlottesville set to finally remove Gen. Robert E. Lee statue after original decision to remove it sparked the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally four years ago
- A Confederate monument that helped spark the violent 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville four years ago, will be removed on Saturday, the city announced Friday.
In a news release, Charlottesville confirmed the statue removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, along with a statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson.
Designated public viewing areas of the removals will be established in both parks where the statues are located, the news release said.
The decision comes more than four years after the city voted to remove the Lee statue.
The decision sparked the 'Unite the Right' rally lead by white supremacists and neo-Nazis, which clashed violently with counter-protesters leaving dozens injured and one counter-protestor dead.
The statue of Robert E. Lee is seen uncovered in Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Va., on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. In a news release Friday, Charlottesville said that the equestrian statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as well as a nearby one of Confederate Gen. Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson will be taken down Saturday
The decision comes more than five years after a 2016 debate was ignited on what to do with Lee's statue. It was a debate that later sparked neo-Nazis to gather in the city for an aggressive rally that left dozens injured and one protestor dead. A statue of Stonewall Jackson is seen uncovered in Justice Park, in Charlottesville, Va., on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018
Because of litigation and changes to a state law dealing with war memorials, the city had been unable to act and remove the monuments until now.
A coalition of racial justice activists who have long been fighting for the removal of the statues issued a statement Friday celebrating the news.
'As long as they remain standing in our downtown public spaces, they signal that our community tolerated white supremacy and the Lost Cause these generals fought for,' the coalition, Take 'Em Down Cville, said in its statement.
Preparations around the parks began Friday, including the installation of protective fencing.
Although the city confirmed removal of the statues, the stone bases will be left in place temporarily and removed later.
Perched in a small, picturesque city in the Blue Ridge mountains, the statues are located in places of relative prominence in Charlottesville.
Commissioned by a UVA graduate, the statues are just blocks apart from each other.
In 2017, Charlottesville City Council voted to take Lee's statue down, but a lawsuit was quickly filed which put the city´s plans on hold. White supremacists rallied by torch-light in May 2017 following that decision
The issue reached a crescendo in August, when white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizers of the 'Unite the Right' rally gathered in the city to defend the statue of Lee. Seen in this picture, counter-protestors clash with white supremacists at the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017
In February 2017, the Charlottesville City Council voted to take Lee's statue down, after a petition was started by Black high school student, Zyahna Bryant.
In addition, advocacy from other local leaders and activists, and the work of a commission appointed to study the issue, were also involved in the removal decision.
A lawsuit was quickly filed, putting the city´s plans on hold, and white supremacists seized on the issue.
First, white supremacists rallied by torch-light at the state in May 2017, following a small group of Klansmen in July, far outnumbered by peaceful protesters.
The issue reached a crescendo in August, when white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizers of the 'Unite the Right' rally gathered in the city to defend the statue of Lee.
They seized on the issue for publicity, meeting in what was the largest gathering of extremists in at least a decade. They brawled in the streets with anti-racist counterprotesters as police largely stood by and watched.
Neo-Nazis seized on the issue for publicity, meeting in what was the largest gathering of extremists in at least a decade. Seen in this picture anti-racist protestors clash with white supremacists during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017
White supremacists brawled in the streets with anti-racist counterprotesters as police largely stood by and watched. Seen in this picture, anti-racist protestors clash with white supremacists during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017
A short time later, James Alex Fields, Jr - an avowed white supremacist and admirer of Adolf Hitler - intentionally plowed his car into a crowd of people, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and leaving others with life-altering injuries.
Because of the litigation over a state law protecting memorials to war veterans, Charlottesville´s hands were tied.
Although the city government still wanted Lee's statue gone, and voted to remove the nearby Jackson statue, the pair of monuments had to stay in place.
A judge prevented the city from even shrouding them with tarps.
After Democrats took control of the General Assembly in the 2019 elections, the monument-protection law was rewritten a year later. Since then, local governments across the state have removed statues that stood for a century or more.
Charlottesville, however, was waiting for the resolution of the lawsuit, which came in April, when the state´s highest court sided with the city.
Since that ruling, the city government has been working its way through the requirements of the new law, like holding a public hearing and offering the statue to a museum or historical society for possible relocation.
The offer period for Charlottesville´s statues ended Thursday.
So far, ten responses have been received and the city remains open to 'additional expressions of interest,' according to Friday's news release.
Under the new law, the city has the final say in the statues' disposition.
Both will be stored in a secure location on city property until the City Council makes a final decision, the news release said.
In the aftermath of the rally, Charlottesville residents unleashed a torrent of pain, anger and frustration at city and state officials, laying bare deeper issues about race, economic inequality and what should be done to move forward.
Activists have since pushed the city to address its legacies of racism and slavery, its dearth of affordable housing and police accountability, among other issues.
Kristin Szakos, who was a City Council member at the time of the rally, said in an interview earlier this week that there was a determination to make sure the violence of 2017 was not in vain.
'It really brought up a lot of awareness of white supremacy that is not just from visitors from Idaho, but also from structures in our own culture and in our own institutions that we have to deal with. And that those are more important than just chasing Nazis out of our town,' she said.
Szakos, no longer in office, said she thinks the city has made some progress toward that work and that the statue removals will be another step in the right direction.
City officials have said they plan to redesign the park spaces where the statues are located 'in a way that promotes healing and that tells a more complete history of Charlottesville.'
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