Charlottesville City Council formally resolves to remove Confederate statues

Charlotte Rene Woods
@charlottewords
cwoods@cvilletomorrow.org

Monday, June 7, 2021, at 11:38 PM

Charlottesville neared the final chapter of its Confederate statue saga on June 7 with the City Council’s formal resolution to remove them. With the council following a process outlined in state law that took effect last summer, the resolution triggers a 30-day period to field offers from historical societies, museums or battlefields.

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The goal of removing the monuments has been many years in the making. Following Bryant’s petition, the city’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces made recommendations for recontextualizing public spaces, and a previous City Council voted to remove the monuments — resulting in a lawsuit and injunction.

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Throughout the summer of 2017, often dubbed the “Summer of Hate,” white supremacists and neo-Nazis frequented Charlottesville — culminating in a torchlit rally at UVA on Aug. 11, 2017, and the Unite the Right rally the following day. In subsequent years, the statues have attracted armed people who claim they are guarding the statues. The City Council passed an ordinance last summer banning firearms from city property and during permitted events.

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Reflecting on the public commentary, Mayor Nikuyah Walker noted that the statue removal can be symbolic and as some noted “a good step” in reconciling with racist history and encouraged people who support the monument removal to have constructive conversations with their neighbors about other topics-— referencing historical redlining that prevented Black people from purchasing homes.

“The statues need to go but we also need to remember that the work isn’t complete at the moment,” Walker said.