Confederate General Statue Defended By White Nationalists Removed In Charlottesville - Forbes

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Topline

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from its pedestal Saturday morning in Charlottesville, Va., four years after a violent rally staged by white nationalists opposed to it being taken down.

Key Facts

The statue will be put in storage until the city finds a museum or other historical caretaker for it.

A statue of “Stonewall” Jackson, another Confederate general, was also planned to be removed Saturday.

The pedestals will also be removed eventually.

Crucial Quote

“Taking down this statue is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America, grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gain,” said Nikuyah Walker, mayor of Charlottesville, standing in front of the statue as workers moved the crane toward the statue, according to the Associated Press.

Key Background

In 2016 a high school student, Zyahna Bryant, started an online petition asking the city council to remove the statue. Charlottesville’s city council approved the statue to be taken down in early 2017 but was prevented from removing it while a lawsuit against the action was in court. In August 2017, white nationalists staged a rally in the city, dubbed “Unite the Right,” that shocked many for its open display of Confederate and Nazi flags, video of marchers chanting “Jews will not replace us” and the murder of a counterprotestor, Heather Heyer. James Alex Fields, Jr. was convicted of first-degree murder in 2018 for driving his car into Heyer and other counterprotestors. In April, after years of litigation, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the statues of Lee and Jackson could be removed.