On June 22 of last year, during the dedication ceremony for Arthur Ashe Boulevard, I was filled with a sense of hope and pride in Richmond. The name change, and the relative swiftness with which it came about, seemed to signal a new chapter in Richmond’s racially fraught history.
I felt the same sense of excitement during the unveiling of Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in December, a statue created in direct response to the Confederate memorials on Monument Avenue.
“Richmond is changing,” I thought that day, as I witnessed a diverse crowd coming together to celebrate this highly symbolic piece of public art — “symbolic” being the key word, because other than gaining a cool new statue, we maintained the status quo. I now recognize my narrow and privileged view.
Fast-forward to June 2020, and “Rumors of War” stands in front of a museum that has been closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Next door to the VMFA, the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s headquarters displays damage from a fire set there during citywide protests against police brutality and racial inequality on May 30.
Down the street, Monument Avenue’s statues have been covered with graffiti as protests have continued for weeks. Jefferson Davis has departed the avenue — with a late-night assist from demonstrators — and the Robert E. Lee memorial has become a community gathering spot.
“Now Richmond is changing,” I have thought to myself over the past few weeks following visits to Monument Avenue to observe the scene. And while the newly contextualized monuments are symbols in and of themselves, and the governor’s and mayor’s stated intentions to take them down also can be seen as symbolic gestures, there’s no denying that this time, things are different. Mayor Levar Stoney has committed to implementing a Marcus Alert (named after Marcus-David Peters, who was killed by a Richmond police officer in 2018) to assist people experiencing a mental health crisis, and to creating a Citizen Review Board to investigate complaints against the Richmond Police Department, whose chief was forced to resign.
Maybe, just maybe, real change will occur, not only as a result of the past weeks of protests, but also as a result of Richmond finally reckoning with 400 years of racial injustice.
In this issue we mark the recent protests with a photo essay and look at the process to remove the monuments and what may become of them. We also talk to a host of Richmonders about what needs to happen next. In addition to the interviews in the magazine, we are publishing many more perspectives at richmondmag.com/voices.
I am here to listen to these voices, to learn and to do my part, as uncomfortable and difficult as it may be. Change does not come easy.
