Goodbye, generals

State supreme court rules city can take down Confederate statues



The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that Charlottesville can legally take down the statues of Confederate Generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. PC: Staff photo


For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s downtown statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have stood as brutal emblems of white supremacy. Local Black activists have fought long and hard for the bronze eyesores to be taken down for good, but the city has faced a string of roadblocks over the past four years: a lawsuit, an injunction, and, notoriously, the white supremacist Unite the Right rally.

Finally, the painful battle seems to have an end in sight.

On April 1, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned a Charlottesville Circuit Court decision that barred the city from removing the monuments. The lower court had ruled that the city couldn’t meddle with the monuments because the statues were protected by a 1997 law preventing localities from moving so-called war memorials. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the law did not apply to statues erected before that date, and thus did not apply to Charlottesville’s segregation-era monuments.

Both the Lee and Jackson statues were erected in the 1920s, in the midst of the Jim Crow era and at the height of Ku Klux Klan membership.

“This court decision will positively impact so many lives,” said Mayor Nikuyah Walker in a city press release. “I want to express gratitude to Zyahna Bryant, Dr. Wes Bellamy, and Kristin Szakos for igniting the sparks that started this local mini-revolution. We are forever indebted to the community for their steadfastness and perseverance.”

Read more: https://www.c-ville.com/goodbye-generals
(Charlottesville Weekly)