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The city of Richmond, Virginia, demolished a statue of General Stonewall Jackson on Wednesday as part of a broader effort to remove approximately a dozen Confederate-era monuments on city land. Hundreds of people came out to watch the removal of the statue commemorating the Confederate General, a movement filled with symbolism given Richmond’s role as the Confederation’s capital. The state’s political makeup has changed dramatically in the past two decades, as has, more recently, the nature of the national conversation about the suitability of statues commemorating a dark and brutally repressive period in American history. The Jackson statue was one of the city’s many monuments to the Confederacy created many decades after the Civil War with the aim of rehabilitating the image of the South, reformulating it as a defender of the rights of states rather than a propagator of slavery. When the Jackson statue was finally on the ground, the crowd cheered and the bells of a nearby church rang.
A new law took effect in Virginia on Wednesday that paves the way for cities and state counties to take steps to remove Confederate monuments, but the law requires a public comment period before municipalities can carry out the removals. The legislation stemmed from an effort by protesters last month to tear down a statue of Confederation President Jefferson Davis, which was partially knocked down during the protests. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered that another statue on Monument of Confederate Avenue Gen. Robert E. Lee be withdrawn, but the order to remove the statue, which is located on state land, is being challenged in court.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the removal of the statues on city property, bypassing the schedule of the new state law by extending the emergency powers granted by the governor. The mayor framed the accelerated expulsions for the sake of public safety that is threatened by protesters who rally and possibly spread the coronavirus, in addition to injuring themselves or others who collapse the monuments. The 39-year-old Democratic mayor, “in response to the advice of the city attorney and relying on emergency powers, sent a team to tear down the statue after the City Council delayed a vote to remove it along with three other people owned by the city along the avenue, “reports the Washington Post. “In addition to Jackson and Davis, the other two city statues on the avenue honor Confederate figures JEB Stuart and Matthew Fontaine Maury.”
“The Berlin Wall fell, but the system also fell with it,” the mayor said of the removals. “Now for us as elected leaders, along with our community, it is our job to eliminate the systemic racism that is found in everything we do, from the government, healthcare, and the criminal justice system.” The Virginia State Republican Party diligently pushed the movement, calling it a “trick” that would fan “the flames of violent and chaotic protests.”
