Monuments Fight Heats Up in Capital of the Confederacy

As a wave of U.S. cities have moved to topple their Confederate statues in the wake of violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Richmond — which was once the capital of the Confederacy — could become the next flashpoint in the debate over what to do with its monuments.

In the heart of Richmond, five statues depicting Confederate figures line a two-mile stretch of Monument Avenue. The monuments are of Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury. Another, added in 1996, depicts black Richmond native and tennis great Arthur Ashe.

On Wednesday, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney pointedly reversed course and announced that he felt the Confederate statues should be removed. The marked change came days after the deadly protest in Charlottesville, where a woman was killed and 19 others were injured after a driver slammed his car into counter-protesters as white nationalists rallied against the planned removal of a Confederate monument.

“I wish they had never been built,” Stoney said in a statement, later adding, “These monuments should be part of our dark past and not of our bright future. I personally believe they are offensive and need to be removed.”

It was a seemingly sudden change for Stoney, who in June said he supported keeping the statues on Monument Avenue, but adding historical context and potentially other monuments. He formed the Monument Avenue Commission, a 10-person committee designed to evaluate ways to add proper context to the statues.

Image: Levar Stoney

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney gestures during a news conference at City Hall on June 22 in Richmond, Virginia.