VA Lawmakers Urged To Let Localities Control Confederate Statues

RICHMOND, VA — Supporters of local control of Confederate memorials converged on Richmond Wednesday to urge legislators to update laws to make it possible for city and county governments to remove war monuments and statues. State law limits local governments' authority over war memorials.

A coalition of groups called Monumental Justice organized a rally on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol on the first day of the new General Assembly. The groups support a bill co-sponsored by Del. Sally Hudson and state Sen. Creigh Deeds that would amend the state law, giving communities the right to remove war memorials and statues. Gov. Ralph Northam has said he would sign the legislation if it passes the General Assembly and reaches his desk.

At the Jan. 8 rally in Richmond, Jalane Schmidt, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, thanked the state lawmakers who are supporting efforts to let local governments take control over monuments in their jurisdictions. "We're shaking off the vestiges of Ole Virginny," Schmidt said in a speech at the rally. "The law we're trying to change is so old, that it refers to the Civil War as the War Between the States."

"In 21st century Virginia, Richmond should not mandate that we keep 20th century Jim Crow statues that glorify the losing side of a 19th century war," she said. "We're here to call on the Generaly Assembly to do the right thing [and] pass this bill that allows for local control over statues in public spaces."

In 2017, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove the statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. But the city was sued and a state judge issued an injunction permanently preventing the removal of the Lee and Jackson monuments.

At a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, white nationalists and neo-Nazis gathered to oppose the removal of the Lee and Jackson statues in the city. On the day of the rally, a supporter of the statues, neo-Nazi James Fields Jr., killed one person and injured dozens when he rammed his car into people protesting the white supremacist rally.

Members of Take 'Em Down Cville, a group of Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, traveled to Richmond Wednesday to show support for local control of Confederate monuments.

"As long as these statues continue to stand, they convey the message that white supremacy is welcome here, and — as evidenced by the violence they inspired in August 2017 — pose a real and continuing danger to our community," the group says on its Facebook page.

Attempts to overturn the law have failed since the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. But with Democrats now controlling the General Assembly, supporters of local control are hopeful the law will get changed this session.

However, opponents of the bill sponsored by Hudson and Deeds contend removal of Confederate monuments and statues would effectively erase history. The memorials are ways to remember historical figures, they say, and are not meant to honor or celebrate the Confederacy or its leaders.