Charlottesville to bring down Robert E. Lee statue that was at the center of murderous rally

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A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that was the focal point of the 2017 murderous White Nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Will be removed from its pedestal and put into storage this weekend, officials said on Friday.

Statues of Lee and another Confederate general, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, are due to fall on Saturday – nearly four years after violence erupted at the “Unite the Right” rally to protest his planned withdrawal.

Amid the chaos, 22-year-old James Fields Jr. crashed into his car with a group of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring more than two dozen others. Fields pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges in March 2019 and was sentenced to life in prison in June.

The violence grabbed national headlines, as did then-President Donald Trump’s insistence that there was “both sides to blame” for the bloodshed. The riot also sparked an ongoing national debate over the presence of Confederate monuments in towns and villages across the country.

White nationalists take part in a torchlight march on the grounds of the University of Virginia ahead of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11, 2017.
White nationalists take part in a torchlight march on the grounds of the University of Virginia ahead of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11, 2017.
Stephanie Keith / Reuters
In this August 12, 2017 file photo, a vehicle collides with a group of protesters protesting against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
James Fields Jr. drove his car into the crowd and left Heather Heyer dead and others injured.
Ryan M. Kelly / The Daily Progress via AP

Charlottesville City Council voted in February 2017 to bring down the statue of Lee amid mounting public pressure, including a petition started by black high school student Zyahna Bryant. A lawsuit was quickly filed, putting plans for the city on hold and drawing the attention of white nationalist and neo-Confederate groups.

After the riot, the spotlight moved away from Charlottesville, but the statues of Lee and Jackson, erected in the 1920s, remained standing. Last year, Democrats controlling the Virginia General Assembly changed state law to allow local authorities to remove Confederate war memorials if they chose.

This undated file photo provided by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail shows James Alex Fields Jr.
James Fields Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for his crime.
Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail via AP, file

Charlottesville, however, waited for the resolution of the lawsuit, which came in April when the Virginia Supreme Court sided with the city. Since then, the city government has worked to meet the requirements of the new state law, including holding a public hearing and donating the statue to a museum or historical society for possible relocation.

The offer period for the Charlottesville statues ended Thursday, and officials say they will be stored in a secure location on city property until city council makes a final decision on their fate. The stone plinths of the monuments will be left in place temporarily and removed later.

Activist group Take ‘Em Down Cville celebrated the removal of the statues, saying in a statement that as long as they “remain standing in our downtown public spaces, they signal that our community tolerates white supremacy and the lost cause for which these generals fought “.

A statue of Stonewall Jackson is discovered at Justice Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Stonewall Jackson statue which will be dismantled.
Zack Wajsgras / Daily Progress via AP

City officials said they plan to redesign the spaces in the park where the statues are located “in a way that promotes healing and tells a fuller story of Charlottesville.”

With post wires

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