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WATCH: Statue of Confederate Robert E. Lee coming down in Richmond
Read full article: WATCH: Statue of Confederate Robert E. Lee coming down in RichmondVirginia brought in a deconstruction crew surrounded by a heavy police presence on Wednesday to remove one of the nation's largest remaining monuments to the Confederacy, a towering statute of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Lexington City Council approves renaming process for streets named after Confederacy
Read full article: Lexington City Council approves renaming process for streets named after ConfederacyLexington City Council approved a path forward to renaming streets in the city Thursday night. This includes a half-dozen contested streets named after the Confederacy.
Lexington officials consider policy to rename streets tied to Confederacy
Read full article: Lexington officials consider policy to rename streets tied to ConfederacyLEXINGTON, Va. โ Lexington city leaders are considering how to adopt a policy to rename streets tied to the Confederacy. Someone could approach the city council with a proposed name change one week and then return with a different idea two weeks later. City leaders are working on a policy they hope everyone can agree on, but some citizens are not on board. A petition circulating online is asking Lexington City Council to rename five streets: Confederate Circle, Jackson Avenue, Lee Avenue, Rebel Ridge Road and Stonewall Street. Mayor Frank Friedman said the councilโs been working on a renaming policy for months after a petition called on them to rename statues, buildings and streets with history based in the Confederacy.
Virginia board renames schools honoring 2 US presidents
Read full article: Virginia board renames schools honoring 2 US presidentsPORTSMOUTH, Va. โ Schools in Virginia honoring two U.S. presidents who sided with or praised the Confederacy are getting new names, along with an elementary that honored a superintendent who funneled money away from Black schools. The Portsmouth School Board voted 8-1 Thursday night to change the names of Woodrow Wilson High School, John Tyler Elementary School and James Hurst Elementary School, news outlets reported. Hurstโs budgets funneled money to white schools over Black schools, according to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. I just think $443,000 needs to be concentrated in the resources for students,โ Board member Ted Lamb told WAVY-TV. He was the only board member who voted against the changes.
Judge sides with Virginia, but Lee statue stays put for now
Read full article: Judge sides with Virginia, but Lee statue stays put for nowRICHMOND, Va. โ A judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the Democratic Virginia governorโs plans to remove an enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee - but said the state canโt immediately act on his order. โThe Lee monument was built to celebrate the Confederacy and uphold white supremacy. Reached by phone, an attorney for the plaintiffs, Patrick McSweeney, confirmed his clients would appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia. It was out of this backdrop that the erection of the Lee Monument took place,โ he wrote. Both McSweeney and a spokeswoman for Northam said the plaintiffs had 30 days to file a notice of appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court.
Virginia has removed 40 Confederate symbols since George Floydโs death
Read full article: Virginia has removed 40 Confederate symbols since George Floydโs deathAcross the nation, there are now fewer symbols of the Confederacy as 102 of them have been removed since the death of George Floyd in May. Virginia has removed the most Confederate symbols of any state with 40, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC said that June and July each saw 38 symbols removed, with 13 in August, 12 in September and one this month. The organization said it track symbols that celebrate the Confederacy on public land, meaning symbols in graveyards, battlefields, on private property, or those erected in the spirit of reconciliation are not included in its count. Below is a list of the 102 symbols that have been removed:
Lexingtonโs Stonewall Jackson Cemetery officially renamed โOak Grove Cemeteryโ
Read full article: Lexingtonโs Stonewall Jackson Cemetery officially renamed โOak Grove CemeteryโLEXINGTON, Va. โ After weeks of conversation, the Lexington City Council voted Thursday night to change the name of a cemetery named after a Confederate general. Effective immediately, Stonewall Jackson Cemetery has been renamed Oak Grove Cemetery. โThat area of Lexington probably in the 1700s was a grove of Oak Grove,โ said Mayor Frank Friedman. Signage and other materials will soon change on the property. Mayor Friedman said city staff will begin that work immediately.
Judge to hear arguments in Richmond Lee statue lawsuit
Read full article: Judge to hear arguments in Richmond Lee statue lawsuitRICHMOND, Va. A judge on Tuesday will weigh whether to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to prevent Virginia's Democratic governor from removing one of the most prominent tributes to the Confederacy, a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond's famed Monument Avenue. Richmond Circuit Court Judge W. Reilly Marchant will hear arguments on the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which is being brought by a group of property owners along the prestigious residential street where the statue is located. Critics of the statues say they distastefully glorify people who fought to preserve slavery in the South. Four other prominent statues of Confederate leaders have been taken down from city property along the avenue this summer. But in a separate ruling the same day, he issued a new injunction in the property owners lawsuit.
We cant undo our history': VMI to address racism, inequality without removing Confederate monuments
Read full article: We cant undo our history': VMI to address racism, inequality without removing Confederate monumentsLEXINGTON, Va. Statues and buildings scatter the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), commemorating those who fought for the south during the Civil War. However, institute leaders plan to take action to address and fight racism. VMI Director of Communications and Marketing, Col. Bill Wyatt, said the military college cant erase its past and doesnt want to. VMI does not define itself by our statues or by any of the things that we have on Post. We want to be able to recruit faculty, qualified faculty and diversify the faculty, as well.In a letter, VMI Superintendent Ret.
Gov. Northam urges Virginia school leaders to change school names, mascots with Confederate ties
Read full article: Gov. Northam urges Virginia school leaders to change school names, mascots with Confederate tiesRICHMOND, Va. Virginias governor is making sure the movement to take down monuments and statues memorializing the Confederacy doesnt just stop there. Ralph Northam is urging Virginias school leaders to change school names and mascots with Confederate ties as well. In a letter Northam sent to school board chairs across the state on Monday, he said, in part, It is time to change school names and mascots that memorialize Confederate leaders or sympathizers.Northam said that like the statues, the names of public places, streets and schools send messages to our children about what we value most as a society.Northam said the financial costs of changing school names are minimal compared to the generations that suffered through American slavery, the Confederacy, the Jim-Crow era, massive resistance, and contemporary manifestation of systemic racism, like the school to prison pipeline.This move comes as Richmond removed another statue on Tuesday, this time of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, as the Confederacys former capital rushes to remove symbols of oppression in response to protests against police brutality and systemic racism. READ THE FULL LETTER BELOW:
Fox's Carlson criticized for saying Democrats hate America
Read full article: Fox's Carlson criticized for saying Democrats hate AmericaNEW YORK Television's most popular political host, Tucker Carlson, says leaders of the Democratic party should be disqualified from running the country because they despise it. While some analysts called it divisive, Carlson praised it as the best speech the president has made in his life. Carlson said that these people hate America. Theres no longer any question about that.The leaders of todays Democratic Party ... despise this country, he said. Besides Biden, Carlson on Monday singled out U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a former military helicopter pilot who lost both legs during a 2004 attack in Iraq.
Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits from Capitol
Read full article: Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits from CapitolWASHINGTON House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she is ordering the removal from the Capitol of portraits honoring four previous House speakers who served in the Confederacy. In a letter to the House clerk, Pelosi requested the immediate removal of portraits depicting former speakers Robert Hunter of Virginia, James Orr of South Carolina and Howell Cobb and Charles Crisp, both of Georgia. Hunter, who served at nearly every level of the Confederacy, including as Confederate secretary of state, served as speaker from 1839-41. Cobb served as speaker from 1849-51, while Crisp served after the Civil War, from 1891-95. Earlier this month, Pelosi urged the removal of Confederate statues from the Capitol and the renaming of U.S. military bases that honor Confederate Army officers.
Protesters tear down Richmond statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Read full article: Protesters tear down Richmond statue of Confederate President Jefferson DavisRICHMOND, Va. โ A statue of Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmond, Virginia's famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday night. The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and is on the ground in the middle of an intersection, news outlets reported. In Portsmouth, protesters beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday, according to media outlets. A statue of Christopher Columbus in Richmond was torn down by protesters, set on fire and then submerged into a lake on Tuesday. News outlets reported the figure was toppled less than two hours after protesters gathered in the cityโs Byrd Park chanting for the statue to be taken down.