Name: Majority of Richmond City Council affirms support for removing Confederate monuments
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Majority of Richmond City Council affirms support for removing Confederate monuments

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Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisMajority of Richmond City Council affirms support for removing Confederate monumentsShare thisThe Confederate statues lining Monument Avenue are poised to come down. All of them.For a majority of the Richmond City Council, it’s a matter of when and how. Not if.On the day Gov. Ralph Northam announced the state would remove the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from Monument Avenue, six members of the nine-member council signaled support for removing four other city-controlled monuments on the strip.“While the removal of these statues does not erase the systemic racism that remains in this country, these symbols have become idols of division,” said Andreas Addison, the 1st District councilman, in a statement explaining his decision to vote for the statues’ removal. “Now is the time to bring Richmond together.”The indication from the council came on the seventh day of Black Lives Matter protests that have gripped Richmond in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, in Minneapolis. Mass gathering have become a daily ritual on Monument Avenue, where protestors have defaced the statues they view as symbols of white supremacy.Northam announced Thursday that the largest of Richmond’s Confederate statues, depicting Lee, would come down “as soon as possible.” Four others honoring Confederate Gens. J.E.B. Stuart and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Confederate naval commander Matthew Fontaine Maury require approval from the council to remove.The council’s commitment to pursue that course is nothing short of a stunning turnaround. The body twice voted against even asking the state for authority of Richmond’s Confederate iconography during this term.The council ultimately made the request earlier this year, but several on the body still said they favored an incremental approach recommended by a city panel in 2018. That called for the removal of a single monument, the one depicting Davis, and adding context to the others.The events of the past week changed that thinking.“This seems like a step that we have to take to be the city we want to be,” said Council Vice President Chris Hilbert, who said he would vote to remove the statues.Mayor Levar Stoney and 9th District Councilman Michael Jones plan to introduce an ordinance next month authorizing the removal. Under state law, the earliest a vote could take place would be August.Joining Jones in supporting the statues’ removal are Addison; Hilbert, 3rd District; Stephanie Lynch, 5th District; Ellen Robertson, 6th District; and Council President Cynthia Newbille, 7th District.Robertson and Newbille — the two senior-most African American members of the council — said they supported removal in concept, but conditioned that on reviewing the ordinance for details such as the cost and what the city would do with the statues once off the pedestals.“I want to tell the whole story, and I want them to be in a place where that’s possible,” Newbille said. “That’s a part of it for me. As a person of African descent, I understand having history buried. As horrible as this is, I still want to make sure that I don’t do what people have done to African Americans, Native Americans and others.”State law requires localities to hold a public hearing and publish notice of their intent in a newspaper. It also permits localities to conduct a nonbinding referendum regarding the monuments.If the City Council votes to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the monuments, it must have a 30-day waiting period in which it offers to relocate the memorials to any museum, historical society or military battlefield, among others.The bloc resolving to remove the statues is composed of three black council members and three white ones. One, Addison, represents a portion of Monument Avenue.Unable to be reached for comment Thursday was Councilwoman Kimberly Gray, who represents a majority of Monument Avenue. She has twice opposed the council requesting authority over the statues from the state. A candidate for mayor, Gray has said in the past that she supports adding additional monuments to the street, not spending tax dollars to remove existing ones.“I support a thoughtful and deliberative process that is inclusive and unifies people,” Gray said in a statement sent by an aide via text after this story was published online.Reva Trammell, the 8th District councilwoman, also did not return calls about her position on the statues. She voted against each of this council’s three measures seeking authority over the monuments, including the one that ultimately passed earlier this year. At the time, she said there were more pressing matters for leaders to focus on, like improving schools and fixing roads.Kristen Larson, the 4th District representative, said she had been flooded with emails and calls by constituents and was still weighing the matter. She, too, has previously opposed each of this council’s three attempts to request control of the statues.“I welcome input, and I’m just listening. I want to hear from people,” Larson said. “I represent the 4th District, and I want to make sure that I’m fairly representing them on this issue.”Lynch, the 5th District representative, said she would vote for removal.Lynch, who has marched with demonstrators, echoed their sentiment that removing the monuments should only be the start of the council’s work to address racism and inequity in the city.“I feel excited and emboldened that we have come into a moment where we can finally get a sense of urgency around the systemic and institutionalized racial injustice that has existed in our systems for hundreds of years,” Lynch said.(804) 649-6734Twitter: @__MarkRobinson{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time.Loading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisMajority of Richmond City Council affirms support for removing Confederate monumentsShare thisThe Confederate statues lining Monument Avenue are poised to come down. All of them.For a majority of the Richmond City Council, it’s a matter of when and how. Not if.On the...

Majority of Richmond City Council affirms support for removing Confederate monuments

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