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Activists are ready to bring down Confederate statues — with or without lawmakers’ help

The daily reminders of racism and white supremacy prompt action after Charlottesville.

The statue of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stewart on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney recently announced he thinks the monuments should stay put, though he appointed a commission to study adding historical context, likely with new signs or new statues. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The statue of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stewart on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney recently announced he thinks the monuments should stay put, though he appointed a commission to study adding historical context, likely with new signs or new statues. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Two years ago in the scorching July heat, residents of South Carolina watched state troopers permanently lower the red and blue Confederate battle flag. The symbol was taken down only after tragedy struck Charleston; a 21-year-old white supremacist opened fire at the historic A.M.E. Church and killed nine black churchgoers. Photos posted online showed the gunman posing with the Confederate flag.

The event marked the Confederate symbol’s final undoing. Under immense pressure, South Carolina officials passed legislation to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds. In the months that followed, other states began proposing the removal of their own Confederate monuments, to the dismay of those who still idolized them.

Saturday once again brought the debate over Confederate symbols to the forefront of public attention. Chaos and violence ensued after white supremacists rallied in Virginia to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. Three people died, including two state patrol officers and a 32-year-old woman who was killed when a white supremacist allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. (For the record, according to a 1869 letter obtained by the University of Virginia, Lee believed it was not wise to memorialize “the sores of war.”)

Until that point, questions about whether cities across the country should keep their Confederate monuments had been simmering. Charlottesville, it seemed, was the boiling point. From Texas to Florida, citizens and activists groups rallied, asking lawmakers to condemn any Confederate symbols as hateful, which some did.

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In addition to the clashes in Virginia on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators, many with riffles, gathered in San Antonio, Texas defend their own Confederate monuments. Two members of the city council had introduced legislation earlier in the summer to relocate one Confederate monument to a museum.

There are at least 1,503 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces and over 700 Confederate monuments and statues on public property across the United States. Most of them reside in the South, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). These include monuments, statues, flags, and name of public buildings.

Credit: The Southern Poverty Law Center
Credit: The Southern Poverty Law Center

The civil rights organization began tracking Confederate symbols across the country after the Charleston shooting to assist with local efforts to re-examine the debate. Since then, there have been 100 attempts at the local level to remove or alter publicly-supportive Confederate symbols, according to the SPLC.

As the events in Charlottesville unfolded Saturday, a Kentucky mayor called on the city council to relocate its own Confederate statues. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray (D) said the initiative was already in the works, but Saturday’s tragic events prompted him to make the public announcement early.

“It’s just not right that we would continue to honor these Confederate men who fought to preserve slavery on the same ground as men and women and even children were once sold into a life of slavery,” Gray said in a video posted Saturday. Lexington was one of America’s largest slave markets, he added.

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The statues of John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge are on the lawn of the former courthouse grounds. The mayor recommended the two Confederate-era statues be relocated to a new setting, one where public officials can “share a truthful history.”

Officials in Maryland followed suit. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh (D) told the Baltimore Sun she was reaching out to two contractors Monday about removing Confederate-era monuments. A commission set up by former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) recommended the removal of two of the four monuments in the city.

Pugh suggested she’d go further than recommended, and added she hoped to transfer the statues to Confederate cemeteries elsewhere in Maryland but didn’t specify when. Additionally, Baltimore City Councilman Brandon M. Scott (D) said he would introduce a resolution Monday, calling for “immediate destruction of all Confederate Monuments in Baltimore.”

In Washington D.C., one city councilman said Monday he was sending a letter to the National Park Service and would introduce a resolution to remove a Confederate statue, after activists tweeted at him demanding action. The city council president of Jacksonville, Florida said she too would propose legislation to relocate Confederate symbols once officials had compiled a list of sites from the city’s parks department.

In what was once the capital of the Confederacy, officials in Richmond, Virginia stated that they would be holding a public meeting on September 13 to discuss the city’s Confederate memorials. Earlier this summer, Mayor Levar Stoney (D) announced the formation of a commission which would decide what to do with the city’s monuments after their removal.

“The monuments commission will obviously listen to all sides,” the mayor told National Public Radio in June. “This is an opportunity for us and a responsibility for us to write the next new chapter for the city of Richmond.” Julian Hayter, a member of the monuments commission work group, told ThinkProgress he was unsure how the events over the weekend would influence the mayor’s decision.

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Some activists are unwilling to wait for local officials to take down confederate symbols. Monday evening, activists in Durham, North Carolina toppled a Confederate symbol. Fired up by Saturday’s horrific scene, they wanted the Civil War image that stood on their court house lawn since 1924 gone.

When activists tear down the statutes, it’ll be hard for local officials to contextualize them. They’d be wise to act sooner.

In New Orleans, where city officials successfully removed a Confederate statue this year, the argument for removing lingering monuments is simple. When New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was asked what should happen to monuments that are removed from their former spots around the city, he suggested they be placed where they can more accurately reflect history. “History can be remembered and not revered,” he said.