Democrats' wins could help bring down Confederate statues
SARAH RANKIN
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Associated Press•November 12, 2019
Making Richard Spencer cry.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — An army of Confederate monuments dots Virginia's landscape but some of those statues could soon start coming down after Election Day gave Democrats control of the General Assembly for the first time in decades.
Members of the new legislative majority say they plan to revive proposals to make it easier to remove the public displays honoring Civil War soldiers and generals in a state that was home to two Confederate capitals. Previous attempts to do so were quickly dispatched in the Republican-controlled General Assembly, in votes largely along party lines.
"This is about what do we remember? What do we honor? It's the right to decide what we celebrate," said Del.-elect Sally Hudson, a Democrat whose district includes Charlottesville.
Hudson said she plans to reintroduce legislation her predecessor, David Toscano, sponsored, giving cities and counties the ability to remove Confederate monuments.
Local governments are currently hamstrung by a 1904 state law that protects memorials for war veterans.
The long-running debate over whether such displays are appropriate in public spaces intensified after white supremacists descended on Charlottesville two years ago, in part to protest the city's attempt to move a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee. The event descended into chaos and a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring dozens more.
In the aftermath of the violence, many places around the country quickly started taking monuments down, but not in Virginia.
Charlottesville has been fighting a lawsuit, based in part on the 1904 state law, over the city's 2017 decision to remove the Lee statue and its later decision to move another of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. A judge has prevented their removal for now.
Many lawmakers are likely "anxious to carry" legislation to address the issue, said Del. Lamont Bagby, who chairs the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
"I can't imagine we would go through this session without that getting a full hearing," Bagby said. "I suspect that it will be met with success."
Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam suggested at a recent news conference that he'd be open to signing such a bill. |
