Richmond Set to Remove Last Confederate Monument on Public Property

Richmond plans to begin removing a statue of A.P. Hill this week. The statue is the city’s last Confederate monument standing on public property and the base contains remains of the general, which has delayed the process to remove the monument.

On Thursday, Richmond Circuit Court Judge David Cheek Sr. denied a motion from some Hill descendants seeking to block removal of the monument while the appeal over who gets to keep the monument continues. Richmond Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Robert Steidel told 8News the removal process will begin Monday. Hill’s remains will go to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper, and Hill’s statue will be stored while an expected appeal plays out; Hill’s descendants want the statue to go to Cedar Mountain Battlefield, near the cemetery that is expected to be Hill’s final final resting place.

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Youngkin Announces Two Board of Historic Resources Appointees Including Historian Outspoken Against Destroying Monuments, Dr. Ann McLean

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced his first two appointments to the Board of Historic Resources (BHR), including Richmond-area art historian Dr. Ann McLean,  who has appeared both on Richmond’s Morning News with John Reid and Bacon’s Rebellion critical of efforts to rename the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library and destroy monuments. The other appointee is Hon. Aimee Jorjani, nominated by Trump to be the first full-time chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The BHR is a seven-member group of governor-appointed Virginia citizens responsible for approving nominations to the Virginia Landmarks Register, to create new or revised state historic markers, and to hold historic preservation easements, according to its website.

“I think we should try to preserve the wonderful heritage that we have in Virginia and that our heritage has come under a vicious attack,” McLean told The Virginia Star.

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State Senator Reeves Supporting Lawsuit over Decision to Melt Charlottesville Lee Statue

Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) is supporting a lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville over the decision to give the Lee statue to a museum that plans to melt it. The lawsuit argues that the city didn’t have a competitive or transparent process to consider offers to take the statue, and additionally argues that melting the statue violates the spirit of state law governing monument removals. According to the lawsuit, the statue has already been delivered to a foundry and broken up, although not yet melted down.

“The City can legally remove, relocate, contextualize or cover the Lee monument, but the General Assembly denied the City authority to alter or destroy it,” the Trevillian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation state in the lawsuit.

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Voters in Mathews, Middlesex, and Nottoway Vote to Keep Confederate Monuments

Three Virginia counties voted against referenda to remove local confederate monuments, continuing a pattern begun in 2020 when voters in six counties also voted to keep their monuments. Mathews County voted resoundingly against removal, 80.06 percent to 19.94 percent. Middlesex County voted 77.31 percent against removal, and Nottoway County voted 67.84 percent against removal.

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Virginia Confederate Monuments on the Ballot in Mathews, Nottoway, and Middlesex Counties

Local voters in three counties are voting in advisory referenda on what to do with confederate monuments in Matthews County, Nottoway County, and Middlesex County. The referenda are non-binding, but are used as a tool to understand public opinion before local officials make a final decision.

In 2020, the General Assembly changed its laws about monuments, finally allowing localities to decide if they want to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover publicly-owned monuments, as long as they provided two periods of 30-days notice and a public hearing. The law also allows the localities to hold optional referenda.

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Richmond Sets Sights on A.P. Hill Statue After Tearing Down Robert E. Lee

AP Hill

After Wednesday’s removal of General Robert E. Lee’s statue in Richmond, the City Council is setting its sights on the last remaining Confederate statue in town. 

“The Richmond City Council will discuss moving the A.P. Hill monument as well as A.P. Hill’s remains, which are inside the monument,” according to WBBT. “On Sept. 13, the city council will take action to relocate the remains and monument to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper at the request of A.P. Hill’s descendants.”

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Virginia Prosecutor: No Improper Benefit for Stoney in Richmond Monument Removal Contract

A special prosecutor, working with the Virginia State Police (VSP), found no evidence that Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney improperly benefited from the contract to remove Richmond’s monuments last summer.

“The investigation did not reveal anything criminal regarding the awarding of the contract,” Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Timothy Martin said in a Wednesday press release.

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King George County Evaluating Moving Confederate Monument to Cemetery

King George VA courthouse

King George County is evaluating a plan to move a Confederate memorial from the lawn in front of the courthouse to a cemetery. On Tuesday evening, the Board of Supervisors went into a closed meeting with the county attorney and county administrator for about an hour. When they came out of the closed meeting, Chairman Ann Cupka read a brief statement before the meeting adjourned.

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Richmond, Charlottesville Councils Consider Next Steps for Their Monuments

It’s been over eight months since Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney removed the city’s Confederate monuments to storage. In a Monday City Council meeting, City Council Interim Chief of Staff Joyce Davis announced that the Organizational Development Standing Committee would hear a resolution about the disposition of the statues. A public hearing and city council vote on the resolution is expected May 10.

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160 Confederate Monuments Were Taken Down in 2020

At least 160 Confederate symbols including statues were removed from public spaces following the death of George Floyd in 2020, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Of the symbols removed 94 were Confederate monuments, including a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that was removed from the U.S. Capitol building after 111 years, according to Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) data. The left-leaning SPLC keeps track of around 2,100 public parks, buildings and statues devoted to the Confederacy through a database called “Whose Heritage?”

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Bipartisan Push by Georgia Lawmakers to Replace Confederate Statue at U.S. Capitol

Republican lawmakers in Georgia appear ready to cave and work with Democrats on the removal of yet another Confederate statue. 

“The state legislative effort to remove the figure of Alexander Stephens from the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and replace it with a likeness of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis will begin in earnest on Wednesday with a bipartisan resolution promoting the change,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Virginia Military Institute Removes ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Statue

Virginia Military Institute began tearing down a statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson Monday morning after school leadership approved the removal in October.

Virginia Military Institute’s (VMI) Board of Visitors unanimously approved Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson statue’s removal in October after the school was accused of systemic racism and of fostering a hostile environment for black cadets. An Oct. 17 Washington Post report laid out several accusations of racism and insensitivity at VMI.

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Victor Davis Hansom Commentary: The Scars of 2020

Amid plague, national lockdown, riot and arson, iconoclasm, recession, and the most contested voting in history, the country leaves 2020 with some scars that won’t heal.

Mail-in Voting: Election Day as we once knew it no longer really exists. It has been warped, trimmed, and made nearly irrelevant in the panic of the times. The prior, but now accelerating, changes and the “never let a good crisis go to waste” efforts during the COVID-19 lockdown rammed through vast changes in previous voting norms. If the Democrats win the two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia, new federal voting mandates designed to supersede state laws will institutionalize the chaos.

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Ousted Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene Speaks on Tucker Carlson Tonight

Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson hosted Portsmouth’s ousted Police Chief Angela Greene on his show Wednesday night to discuss recent events in Portsmouth. Greene’s department issued charges against Senator Louise Lucas and others after Portsmouth’s Confederate monument was damaged in a June protest. On Monday, Greene was fired and the charges were dismissed.

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Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney Wins Re-election

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has won another term in office with 38.07 percent of voters, just ahead of the 35.72 percent of voters he won in 2016, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) and the City of Richmond. That upper-30s range is also the percent of support the mayor had in recent 2020 polls. In his first term, the mayor faced challenges including poor graduation rates in Richmond schools, controversy over his coliseum project, COVID-19 health and economic concerns, and questions of racial equity around policing and Confederate monuments. Those issues still face the mayor as he enters a second term.

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Six Virginia Counties Vote to Keep Confederate Monuments

Residents of six rural Virginia counties voted to keep local Confederate monuments in place on Tuesday. The referenda are non-binding, but demonstrate voter preference to the local boards of supervisors. In four of the counties, over 70 percent of voters chose to keep the monuments, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). Two counties were closer; Charles City County voted against removing its monument by 55.11 percent, while Halifax County voted against relocating its monument by 59.69 percent.

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In the Dead of Night, House Speaker Filler-Corn Removed Confederate Statues for $83K – and Lied About the Documents, Lawsuit Claims

Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) faces a lawsuit for falsely denying the existence of records documenting the $83,000 removal of the Capitol’s Confederate monuments.

The plaintiff in the case, David Webster II, requested documents under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from Filler-Corn upon learning she’d removed the Confederate statues and busts. In her response, Filler-Corn states repeatedly “The requested records do not exist.” However, Webster II discovered many of the documents in question.

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Kim Gray Wants to Bring Transparency and Community Back to Richmond’s Government

Mayoral candidate Kim Gray is running to increase transparency in Richmond’s government, return to a community-based planning model, and improve Richmond’s schools. Her resume includes jobs for two former governors, eight years as a school board member, and four years as council member of Richmond’s Second District. Her political roots run to her childhood.

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Virginia Judge Bars Lee Statue Removal for 90 Days

A judge on Monday dissolved one injunction preventing Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration from removing an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond but immediately instituted a new one in a different lawsuit.

The new 90-day injunction issued by Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant bars the statue’s removal while the claims in a lawsuit filed by a group of Richmond property owners are litigated.

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Bipartisan Vote in the House Rules to Remove Confederate Statues from the Capitol

A bill to remove statues of Confederate leaders and figures who advocated for white supremacy from the Capitol passed the House on a bipartisan vote Wednesday, the New York Times reported.

The House voted 305 to 113 to remove the statues as part of a broad effort to take symbols of racism out of public spaces, the Times reported. The legislation was introduced by House Majority Leader and Democratic Maryland Rep. Steny H. Hoyer.

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Virginia Evicts Confederate Monuments from Its State Capitol

Virginia has removed from its iconic state capitol the busts and a statue honoring Confederate generals and officials. That includes a bronze statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee positioned in the same spot where he stood to assume command of the state’s armed forces in the Civil War nearly 160 years ago.

They are the latest Confederate symbols to be removed or retired in the weeks since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked a nationwide protest movement.

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Over Half of Americans Oppose Removing Confederate Statues, WaPo Poll Finds

More than 50% of Americans oppose removing public statues dedicated to Confederate generals, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll published Monday.

The poll showed 80% of Republicans and 56% of independents oppose removing such monuments, while 74% of Democrats support ridding the country of statues commemorating the Confederacy. Nearly 60% of white people oppose their removal, as do about half of Hispanic people, the poll found.

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Commentary: The Myth of Righteous Vandalism

The fevered frenzy against public monuments has caused varied reactions. Among scholars, the main symptom is seemingly contagious dispassion. When a New York Times columnist spoke with art historian Erin Thompson, for example, their interview closed with Thompson recommending the use of chains for those interested in inverting large objects. She appears to have an affinity for neither art nor history. Thompson may have caught the bug from archaeologist Sarah Parcak, who recently — and apparently satirically — briefed mobs struggling to dislodge obelisks. “It is sometimes complained,” drawls historian William Cavert, “that such acts erase history.” According to him, that is a popular grievance against the destruction of statues that historians and scholars almost universally dismiss.

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Filmmaker Ken Burns Takes a Knee, Declares ‘We Have to Get Rid of’ Confederate Monuments

In an interview on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time Tuesday, filmmaker Ken Burns voiced his support of the mob attacks on historical works of art depicting figures and events surrounding the Confederacy and the Civil War.

“I think we’re in the middle of an enormous reckoning right now in which the anxieties and the pains and the torments of centuries of injustice are bubbling up to the surface, It’s very important for people like me, of my complexion, to be as quiet as possible and to listen,” Burns began.

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While Confederate Statues Come Down, Other Symbols Targeted

Spectators in North Carolina’s capital cheered Sunday morning as work crews finished the job started by protesters Friday night and removed a Confederate statue from the top of a 75-foot (232 meter) monument.

Across the country, a peaceful protest in Portland, Oregon, against racial injustice turned violent early Sunday after baton-wielding police used flash-bang grenades to disperse demonstrators throwing bottles, cans and rocks at sheriff’s deputies near downtown’s Justice Center.

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Commentary: Unmasking Marble and Bronze

Protests and looting were supplanted last week by an orgy of more symbolic destruction. Statues of various figures from our civilization’s past—Christopher Columbus, a Texas Ranger, numerous confederate Civil War memorials, and even Philadelphia’s Frank Rizzo—have been toppled, defaced, or scheduled for removal by compliant officials.

In the same spirit, a Senate GOP committee recently voted to rename military bases named after confederate generals. Those names—Fort Bragg and Fort Hood, among them—have acquired their own connotations as centers of excellence, but must be renamed because their long-forgotten namesakes fought on the losing side of the Civil War.

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North Carolina Mayor Threatens Legal Action If Group Fails to Remove Confederate Statue

A North Carolina mayor is threatening legal action unless a women’s historical society removes a statue of a Confederate soldier that it owns in downtown Winston-Salem. During a Tuesday event, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines announced that City Attorney Angela Carmon sent a letter to the Daughters of the Confederacy organization asking that it relocate its statue. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the city is asking the group to move the statue from its current downtown location to Salem Cemetery, where 36 Confederate soldiers are buried. Joines and Carmon are citing vandalism of the statue as reason for its removal, saying that the city cannot provide sufficient security. The statue was vandalized twice in 2018, most recently on Christmas Day when vandals spray-painted “cowards and traitors” on the base of the statue. “We’ve already had two instances of vandalism and, with the potential for violence, it is [Carmon’s] belief that the statue does create a public nuisance and therefore we are directing the Daughters of the Confederacy to remove it, and if they don’t, we’re prepared to file legal action to achieve that removal,” Joines told the Journal Tuesday. The Daughters of the Confederacy previously declined to remove the statue, but Joines…

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Tennessee House Votes to De-Fund Memphis ‘Bicentennial Celebration’ After the Midnight Statue Removal Debacle

Using ‘the power of the purse,’ the Tennessee House of Representatives passed an amendment by a vote of 56-31 Tuesday to de-fund Memphis’ bicentennial celebration by $250,000 as a consequence to the overnight removal of two Confederate monuments in late 2017. “If you recall, back in December, Memphis did something that removed historical markers in the city,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Steve McDaniel said from the House floor. “It was the city of Memphis that did this, and it was full knowing it was not the will of the legislature.” Memphis Mayor and City Council schemed to sell the land containing the parks and statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on very favorable terms to a nonprofit which then took them down. As The Tennessee Star reported: Confederate monuments on what was until recently city property were taken down in Memphis after the sun set on Wednesday with little advance public discussion of the propriety of the actions taken secretively to circumvent state law. Whether the actions of the Memphis City Council and Mayor Jim Strickland that caused these stealth take downs of Confederate monuments Wednesday legally circumvent state law, or are in fact a brazen violation of state law, is a matter…

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Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner is the Director of ‘Memphis Greenspace,’ Which Took Down Civil War Monuments

The hasty removal of two Confederate monuments Wednesday overnight has sparked a number of questions into the specifics of the transaction between Memphis city officials and the virtually unknown non-profit corporation that bought the properties, called “Memphis Greenspace.” Shelby County Commission member Van Turner held a press conference Thursday to begin to answer those questions, beginning with the fact that he is the director of “Memphis Greenspace.” WREG News Channel 3 was in Memphis to cover the presser: Memphis Greenspace, the nonprofit group that purchased two controversial city parks Wednesday, announced plans for recently purchased public parks after the removal of two Confederate statues during a press conference Thursday morning. Memphis Greenspace plans to renovate the parks so they can be a safe place for children and more accessible to the public. Van Turner, the director of the non-profit organization and a Shelby County commissioner, led the press conference. He addressed critics of the purchase during the press conference. “This is not a shady deal. It’s a legal deal,” he said. “I presented this solution to Bruce McMullen, the city attorney for the city of Memphis, and he has consistently been an advocate for the removal of these statues legally.”…

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Gubernatorial Candidate Mae Beavers Criticizes Memphis City Council Decision to Remove Confederate Monuments

Republican gubernatorial candidate and former State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) released a statement on Thursday criticizing the Memphis City Council for a series of actions that resulted in the removal of statues in Memphis parks under the cover of darkness Wednesday night honoring Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis. “Our history is not perfect, nor are the historical figures who helped shape our state and nation, but it is wrong to destroy these public monuments suddenly and in the dark of night in order to cater to the politically motivated demands of those who want to cleanse our history,” Beavers said, adding: There are some individuals and groups who want to promote a divisive agenda using claims of racism and bigotry against anyone who respects history and wants to preserve it. Sadly that rhetoric, and weak-kneed politicians unwilling to stand up to them and their threats of violence if they don’t get their way, is creating a climate where hysteria seems to matter more than history. Removing these historical monuments won’t help a single child in Memphis do better in school. Perhaps the Memphis City Council should worry more about the abysmal test scores being produced in…

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Memphis Takes Down Confederate Monuments

Confederate monuments on what was until recently city property were taken down in Memphis after the sun set on Wednesday with little advance public discussion of the propriety of the actions taken secretively to circumvent state law. Whether the actions of the Memphis City Council and Mayor Jim Strickland that caused these stealth take downs of Confederate monuments Wednesday legally circumvent state law, or are in fact a brazen violation of state law, is a matter that members of the Tennessee General Assembly are sure to investigate when they convene in Nashville next month. It is unclear whether Mayor Strickland or Memphis officials sought a legal opinion from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery on their legal right to undertake these actions. According to a recent Tennessee Star Poll, 64 percent of Tennessee Republican likely primary voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who opposes the removal of these monuments, while 26 percent are less likely to vote for a candidate who opposes the removal of these monuments. The Commercial Appeal was on the scene as crews arrived to carry out the removal of Confederate monuments, on order of the new owners, who bought the properties for a paltry $1000 each:…

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Knoxville Monument Protest Ends Without Violence

The Confederate monument protest in Knoxville Saturday ended without violence, police said. The Knoxville Police Department (KPD) tweeted Saturday that the demonstration in Fort Sanders was “peaceful and successful.” The protest was held against a monument in the historic neighborhood that honors fallen Confederate soldiers from the Battle of Fort Sanders on Nov. 29, 1863. WATE reported the city had shut down a portion of 17th Street to vehicles. Earlier in the day, the KPD tweeted that guns, knives and face coverings would not be permitted. Police also reported handing out water to protestors. Petitions were posted online last week calling both for the removal and the preservation of the monument, WATE reported. The monument was vandalized and then cleaned up. WBIR reported about 300 people gathered near the monument. Most protested the structure, while a few showed support. Some chanted “not in Knoxville,” while one woman displayed a sign reading “defend our monument.” The KPD tweeted that the drivers of dozens of cars that towed from the protest area would not have to pay. The department tweeted the name and number of the city impound lot. Democratic Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero tweeted “Thank you @knoxsheriff, @TNHighwayPatrol, @OakRidgePolice, @TBInvestigation, @KnoxvilleFire, @UTPolice &…

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Knoxville Preparing for Protests Saturday, Bans Firearms

Tennessee Star

  The city of Knoxville is bracing for demonstrations Saturday afternoon featuring a rally in support of a Confederate monument and counterprotesters, but a prohibition on firearms is raising concerns among some gun rights advocates. Because of the violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, two weeks ago, Knoxville city officials are taking precautions to try to prevent protests from turning violent. “Our officers will be there to maintain order and ensure that everybody is free to speak their piece,” said Mayor Madeline Rogero in a news release Wednesday. “These are volatile times, and I strongly urge everyone to refrain from antagonism. We can have these discussions as a community without resorting to angry rhetoric or violence.” No guns, other weapons or masks will be allowed for people entering designated demonstration areas. People planning to enter those areas will be screened with a metal detector. Signs and flags will not be allowed into the demonstration zones if they are attached to a pole or stick or any object that could be used as a weapon. Water bottles, drink containers, coolers, beverages and food are also banned. Water will be provided on site. The city is citing TCA 39-17-1359 in state law to support…

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