White Supremacists Flail to Save Monuments to Racism and slavery – but in Virginia, Democrats Finally Have a Plan to Topple Them
Two people were arrested in Charlottesville, Virginia, Thursday morning trying to vandalize a statue glorifying Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. It was the fourth—no, wait, fifth—time since September the monument and a nearby statue of Robert E. Lee have been targeted by anti-racist activists frustrated by the markers’ continuing presence. More than two years since throngs of violent neo-Nazis claiming a need to “defend” the statues from proposed removal injured 35 protesters, and one of them murdered anti-racist activist Heather Heyer, the incident demonstrated how Confederate markers continue to be a local nuisance.
Despite the deadly rally and City Council votes to take the markers down, they remain in place thanks to Lost Cause apologist judges, monied neo-Confederate litigants and, crucially, a state law that prevents their removal.
But for the first time in a very long time—since 1995, in fact—Virginia’s congressional Democrats have the numbers to change that legislation. We will see soon what those numbers are worth, when Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds, Delegate Jay Jones and Delegate-elect Sally Hudson propose a bill that would give decision-making power over Confederate statues to local jurisdictions at the start of the January legislative session.