Virginia Cities Now Have the Power To Remove Confederate Statues

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Yonnie3 has several threads on the new legislation. This aspect might well have been covered in one of them.

APR 12, 8:59 AM

Virginia Cities Now Have the Power To Remove Confederate Statues

Mikaela Lefrak

Virginia localities will now have the power to remove their Confederate monuments, under the provisions of a long-debated bill that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law Saturday.

Previously, Virginia cities and counties were not allowed to remove, modify or add historical context markers to war memorials. That’s not the case in many other states — a number of Maryland localities, for example, have voted in recent years to relocate Confederate statues from prominent public spaces to private property.

Both chambers of Virginia’s Democratic-majority General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year to ease the restrictions on modifying war memorials. The final bill, from Sen. Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) and Del. Delores McQuinn (D-Richmond), allows local lawmakers to hold non-binding referendums on their monuments.

Northam also signed a number of other racial justice-focused bills on Saturday, including one that will establish a commission to recommend a replacement for Virginia’s Robert E. Lee statue in the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol’s state statue collection includes about a dozen Confederate leaders, mostly donated by Southern states.

Northam has paid particular attention to racial justice legislation in the wake of last year’s blackface scandal, which nearly resulted in his ouster from office.

{snip}

[Yonnie3]

1. Yes, but the more the merrier

It was Governor Northam Signs Landmark Legislation on Historic Justice, Equity but your article goes into depth on one of the group of bills in my post.

I predict a lot of push back as Charlottesville goes through the mandated process to move the statues they had previously voted to move.

[2naSalit]

2. K&R