Virginians sue over statue’s removal

RICHMOND, Va. — Six property owners along Monument Avenue in Virginia’s capital city filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to stop Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Northam recently ordered the statue’s removal, citing the demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who pleaded for air as a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck. Floyd’s death, which sparked global protests on addressing racial injustice and police brutality, has also led to an re-examination of statues and monuments of historical figures.

The lawsuit challenges Northam’s authority to order the statue’s removal from its prominent place in the former capital of the Confederacy, citing in part an 1889 resolution of the General Assembly that authorized the governor of Virginia to accept the statue.

The plaintiffs also argue that removal of the statue would result in the loss of the National Historic Landmark designation for a stretch of Monument Avenue, a prestigious residential boulevard, and therefore “the loss of favorable tax treatment and reduction in property values.”

The statue is one of five memorials to the Confederacy along Monument Avenue, and the only one on state property.

A similar lawsuit was filed last week by William Gregory, a descendant of two signatories to the deed transferring the statue to the state. A week ago, a judge issued a 10-day injunction in that case temporarily preventing Northam’s administration from removing the statue.