Divisive Lee statue in Virginia to be removed

Richmond mayor will try to remove four other Confederate statues.

RICHMOND, VA. — A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday, pledging the state will no longer “preach a false version of history.”

The bronze equestrian statue, which sits on an enormous pedestal on state property, will be moved to storage while Northam’s administration works “with the community to determine its future,” the governor said at a news conference where the announcement was met with extended applause.

“You see, 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. No one believes that any longer,” Northam said.

Northam made the decision, which has been widely praised by black leaders and activists, after days of angry protests in Richmond and across the country over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck while he pleaded for air.

The decision also came a day after Richmond’s mayor, Levar Stoney, announced he will seek to remove the four other Confederate statues along Monument Avenue, a prestigious residential street and National Historic Landmark district in the former capital of the Confederacy.

Together, the decisions mark a striking departure from recent years when even after a violent rally of white supremacists descended on Charlottesville in 2017 and other Confederate monuments started falling across the country, Virginia did not make the same changes.

In part, local governments were hamstrung by a state law that protects memorials to war veterans.

That law was amended earlier this year by the new Democratic majority at the Statehouse and signed by Northam. When the changes go into effect July 1, localities will be able to decide the monuments’ fate.

As for the Lee statue, Northam and his predecessor, fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe, have not previously pressed the issue.

McAuliffe said in the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally, where a woman was killed after an avowed white supremacist drove a car into a crowd, he lacked the authority to remove the statue without General Assembly approval. Some activists and attorneys, including staff of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, disagreed.

Northam, who can’t seek reelection because Virginia governors cannot serve consecutive terms, said earlier this year he was still studying the issue.

STEVE HELBER / ASSOCIATED PRESS Protesters gather Tuesday at the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue near downtown Richmond, Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans Thursday for the removal of the iconic but controversial statue.