A statue of Stonewall Jackson on Richmond Monument Avenue fell on Wednesday after the mayor ordered the “immediate removal” of all Confederate monuments owned by the city.
“As the capital city of Virginia, we have needed to turn this page for decades. And today we will,” said Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney in a video.
Governor Ralph Northam applauded the move. “A monumental day in Richmond that begins the important process of removing these painful symbols from our past. Thank you, next,” he tweeted Wednesday.
Calls for the removal of Confederate tributes and other statues have increased amid widespread protests against police brutality and racial discrimination that followed the death in custody of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis.
In some cases, protesters have demolished monuments themselves.
On June 10 in the city of Portsmouth, Virginia, southeast of Richmond, a man was injured when a downed Confederate statue hit him in the head, authorities said. That day in Richmond, protesters tore down a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Stoney said he issued the order using emergency powers on Wednesday to protect public safety.
“The second reason I act today is because it is past time,” Stoney said in his video address.
The Confederate General’s statue was removed from its pedestal around 4:40 p.m., reported NBC affiliate Richmond WWBT. It was introduced in 1919, according to documents from the National Park Service.
Stoney, a Democrat, was elected in 2016. He served as the first black secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is the youngest mayor in the history of the city.
A law passed by the state’s General Assembly in March, which went into effect on Wednesday, empowers towns like Richmond to remove monuments dedicated to the Confederacy, the mayor’s office said.
Stoney said he will work with City Hall in the coming weeks to outline “an inclusive public process” to determine the final destination of the statues.
“Until then, they will be kept in stock,” Stoney said.
Most people who saw the removal of the Jackson statue supported the move, WWBT reported. Dennis Edwards grew up in the area and said he never thought he would see the day, but called the move “an incredible moment.”
“The radical change is too insufficient to tell you what this means,” Edwards told the station. “… In the space of perhaps what, three hours, you’re seeing a situation where the whole mindset, all the symbolism of Richmond has totally changed.”
A man who opposed the transfers told the station that tourism is big business in Richmond and that people visit the history of the Civil War.
Earlier Wednesday, Stoney submitted a resolution to the City Council to immediately remove the statues, but due to the meeting’s rules, officials did not vote. The resolution has the support of the majority of the council, according to WWBT. A vote is scheduled for Thursday.
Cities and communities in Virginia, where the state says there are more than 200 public monuments to the Confederacy, were unable to remove them.
The House and Senate, led by the Virginia Democrats, voted earlier this year to give local governments the power to decide whether to remove Confederate statues from public property, and Northam signed the measure in April.
The law that went into effect on Wednesday requires a 60-day administrative process with public input, the mayor’s office said. Stoney cited emergency statements due to recent riots in ordering the moves.
It was unclear how many monuments will be removed by order of the mayor.
But there have been four city properties on Richmond’s Monument Avenue, including the Jackson statue that was removed Wednesday and the Davis statue that protesters toppled last month.
The statue of General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, erected in 1890, is located on state land and not on city property. Northam has said he wants that statue removed. The removal has stalled pending the resolution of several lawsuits, The Associated Press reported.
The Associated Press contributed
