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Charlottesville set to remove Lee statue that sparked rally
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Confederate monument that helped spark a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville will be taken down this week, the city announced Friday.
Charlottesville said in a news release that the equestrian statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee as well as a nearby one of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson will be removed Saturday. Designated public viewing areas for the removals will be established in both parks where the statues are located, the news release said.
The development comes more than five years after a removal push focused on the Lee statue bubbled up in 2016. As those plans evolved, the monument unveiled in 1924 — when when Jim Crow laws were eroding the rights of Black citizens — became a rallying point for white supremacists and other racist groups, culminating in the violent “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.
Because of litigation and changes to a state law dealing with war memorials, the city had been unable to act until now.