A group gathers at the Robert E. Lee Monument. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Nightly demonstrations against racial inequities and police brutality in Richmond have underscored an urgent need for change in the city, and state and local leaders are responding with a clear message: It is time for Monument Avenue’s Confederate statues to come down.
Six days after protests broke out in Richmond in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Gov. Ralph Northam directed his Department of General Services to remove, “as soon as possible,” the 12-ton bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that has towered above the historic thoroughfare since 1890. At press time, however, three lawsuits had been filed seeking to thwart the monument’s removal. Suits filed by William C. Gregory and Henrico resident William Davis argue that removal would violate language in the deed the state signed to gain control over the monument alongside federally designated landmark law, according to Richmond Circuit and U.S. District court records. A group of Monument Avenue residents — who filed a lawsuit anonymously, with the exception of Helen Marie Taylor — argue its removal would hurt their property values and tax benefits.
Richmond had been barred from altering or removing its Confederate statues until the General Assembly ceded control over the monuments to local governments earlier this year. Mayor Levar Stoney committed to joining 9th District City Councilman Michael Jones in putting forth an ordinance to remove the city-owned Confederate memorials lining Monument Avenue when the new legislation takes effect on July 1. All nine members of City Council have expressed their support for the measure.
But while city leaders prepare for the legislative process to get underway, Richmonders have taken matters into their own hands. During demonstrations in early June, protesters set fire to and toppled a Christopher Columbus monument in Byrd Park before tossing it into nearby Fountain lake and tore down the Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue a day later. In tweets following those actions, Stoney condemned the glorification of both historical figures but said protesters should wait for statues to be removed safely by professionals.
The five Confederate memorials lining Monument Avenue have become raw nerves at the city’s center, sparking debate between groups who call them an essential reminder of Richmond’s history and others who view the statues as shameful tributes to white supremacy and the Confederacy’s Lost Cause narrative.
During the announcement that he would order removal of the Lee monument, Northam stressed that the issue is clear-cut: “In Virginia, we no longer preach a false version of history, one that pretends the Civil War was about state rights and not the evils of slavery,” he said, citing his authority over the Lee statue because it sits on state-owned land. “Yes, that statue has been there for a long time, but it was wrong then and it is wrong now. So, we’re taking it down.”
In the days following Northam’s order, Lee Circle at times felt more like a block party than a solemn reminder of Richmond’s days as the capital of the Confederacy. On a recent Sunday afternoon, music blared as tents along the grassy median offered free snacks and drinks for groups planning to attend protests later that day. Onlookers climbed onto the statue’s pedestal, snapping photos of spray-painted messages that now adorn it.
Brian Jackson, 22, carried a protest sign as he took in the scene, sharing that Northam’s announcement proved to him that demonstrations can make a difference. “[Removing the statues has] been something we’ve been talking about for a while now, and to see it come true, it brought a smile to my face,” he says.
“This is a critical moment, but it's the beginning and not the end of a critical moment.” —Julian Hayter, University of Richmond Associate Professor of Leadership Studies
Councilman Jones, who has advocated for local control over the city’s Confederate monuments since 2017, says it will take years for Richmond to unravel systems that uphold white supremacist ideals, but that scrubbing Confederate icons from their pedestals is a needed first step.
“I don’t think they should be lifted up in the way that they are,” Jones says. “Take them off their pedestals, put them down somewhere, preserve a piece of history, but you choose which part of your history you’re going to lift up.”
He adds, however, that “the message of force and violence [perpetrated by] the police [against African Americans] cannot be lost” amid renewed focus on the monuments.
The question surrounding the monuments then becomes: Where will they go next?
Northam says the Lee statue will be stored in a warehouse until an appropriate resting site is determined, while City Council would have 30 days to offer the other monuments to any museum, historical society or military battlefield after removing them.
University of Richmond Associate Professor of Leadership Studies Julian Hayter served on the city’s Monument Avenue Commission, which recommended in 2018 that the city allow the majority of the Confederate statues remain, with additional context. He urges city leaders to find a home for the statues where they can be recontextualized to address head-on false historical narratives surrounding the Confederacy.
“I still think that if those monuments come down and there is no attempt in Richmond or the commonwealth to deal with the legacy of the Lost Cause, this is a waste, an absolute waste,” he says. “It’s a symbolic political victory at best. At worst, it is cynical politicking. You can’t do away with those ideas by locking up Confederate statuary in a warehouse. They have to be used as teachable moments.”
One possible home for the statues: The Valentine. Its CEO, Bill Martin, says the museum would be interested in joining the conversation as city leaders weigh options, though he adds it’s too early to say how many statues the museum could take in and how they’d be displayed.
Wherever they land, Hayter says that to create lasting change, city leaders will need to heal deeper wounds left by Richmond’s Confederate past.
“This is a critical moment, but it’s the beginning and not the end of a critical moment,” he says. “There are still artifacts of the Jim Crow system in Richmond, like the public school system [and] the compression of poor African American communities into public housing. These are still problems left over from the racist and segregationist policies in the 20th century, and taking those monuments down is not going to fix those problems.”
