The former Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia brought down a six-meter, bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee today, a move that was cheered by those crowding nearby.
With the removal of this statue, the United States is free of one of the country’s largest remaining monuments paying homage to the Confederacy. As the statue was cut into two, Governor Ralph Northam moved a step closer to the goal he announced last June.
“This was a long time coming, part of the healing process so Virginia can move forward and be a welcoming state with inclusiveness and diversity,” Northam said. “Any remnant like this that glorifies the lost cause of the Civil War, it needs to come down.”
Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, more than 180 confederate monuments have been brought down, according to data gathered by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which they provided to Newsweek.
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In 2021 alone, a total of 51 Confederate symbols have been relocated, renamed, or removed from public spaces. This figure includes 11 monuments and 40 memorials. The Southern Poverty Law Center also recorded 31 symbols facing pending removals. However, as experienced during the fight to take down Lee’s monument, dismantling these symbols of the Confederacy comes with challenges.
The removal of the Lee monument faced litigation for over a year as supporters looked to thwart its removal. Plans were finally put into place last week when Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of its removal.
As the days leading up to the monument’s removal drew near, those orchestrating its takedown faced a number of hurdles. Devon Henry, a Black executive, oversaw the removal effort undertaken by company Team Henry Enterprises. For his role in the effort, Henry received a number of death threats, the AP reported.
Efforts to remove statues like Lee’s have faced even worse backlash. Plans to remove another Lee monument in Charlottesville sparked an uproar from white supremacist groups that ultimately resulted in the 2017 Unite the Right rally where three people died and over 49 were injured.
During last year’s wave of statue removals in wake of widespread protests over the summer, President Joe Biden stressed that the monuments should not remain standing in America’s cities. However, instead of destroying them, he said they should be kept as a reminder of the nation’s dark past.
“I think those statues belong in museums, they don’t belong in public places,” Biden said. “I can understand the anger and anguish that people feel by having for years and years been under the statue of Robert E. Lee if you’re an African American.”
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
