Richmond’s city council is considering asking lawmakers for permission to move the city’s Confederate monuments. If the resolution passes, it could force state delegates to take a clear stand on the issue.
Richmond council chambers were full of bright yellow signs saying “Take ‘em down NOW!” Former councilman Marty Jewell pleaded with city council members to do what they had to in order to remove the city’s Confederate statues on Monument Avenue.
“They were erected as a middle finger, established as a reminder that the aforementioned status of black and white shall forever be,” said Jewell. “Ladies and gentleman, these symbols have power, they got power. If anyone doesn’t want to believe it, just look at what happened in Charlottesville.”
The most prominent statue on Monument Avenue is owned by the state, not the city. Asking permission from state lawmakers would represent a new approach to the Confederate monument issue.
Charlottesville didn’t ask permission before voting to remove its Robert E. Lee statue, and now the city’s facing a lawsuit. That’s because state law forbids tampering with, or moving, war memorials. It's not clear if that law applies to Confederate monuments are not.
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Because of the uncertainty, monuments are likely to stay where they are unless lawmakers change the law or Virginia’s Supreme Court decides the law doesn’t apply to Confederate monuments.
Many lawmakers say decisions on Confederate monuments should be left to localities. If passed, the Richmond City Council resolution could apply pressure to those lawmakers to address the law they say is tying their hands.
The resolution will be taken up by the city’s land use committee in October.
Richmond is already undergoing a public commissionprocess to decide what, if anything, to do with its monuments. That process has stalled out since a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned violent. Public meetings have been postponed and have yet to be rescheduled.
