As demonstrators prepared to march through the city of Richmond for the sixth consecutive evening breaking news was spreading across the wires. Around 5:30 PM on June 3rd Governor Ralph Northam’s office teased out that Virginia’s chief executive would announce plans to remove the giant state owned Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue.
The stunning news captured national headlines with alerts flashing on phones throughout the country that the former capital of the confederacy would dismantle one of the most prominent icons of the civil war.
At a morning press conference on Thursday June 5th Northam made the historic announcement official that General Robert E. Lee would leave Richmond.
"I believe in a Virginia that learns lessons from the past, and we all know that our country needs that example right now, America is once again looking to Virginia to lead."
Governor Ralph Northam
The governor informed Virginians that he had directed state agencies to begin planning for safely removing, storing and preserving the 14 foot bronze equestrian statue. Initially the state seemed to be moving expeditiously towards the goal of removing the statue dispatching engineers on June 8th to inspect the statue.
According to sources in the Governor’s office attempts were made to hire construction crews immediately to take on the task of dismantling the statue but no local firms would consider the contract. With the project delayed by several days opponents of the removal were given enough time to file several court cases which have delayed the removal of the statue indefinitely.
Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring are expected to continue to pursue the legal battles in Richmond courts through the end of 2020.
“Symbols matter, and Virginia has never been willing to deal with symbols. Until now,” Northam said. “It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now, so we’re taking it down.”
Governor Ralph Northam
Once the legal hurdles are eliminated the state has revealed a plan to dismantle the metal statue into 3 pieces. The pedestal will also be carefully dismantled block by block and placed into storage while plans are made for a permanent new home for the statue components.
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