Despite Charlottesville violence, U.S. cities vow to remove Confederate statues

Undeterred by violence over the planned removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Va., municipal leaders in cities across the U.S. said this week they would step up efforts to pull such monuments from public spaces.

The mayors of Baltimore and Lexington, Ky., said on Monday they would push ahead with plans to remove statues, as a national debate flared anew over whether monuments to the Confederacy are symbols of hate or heritage.

• Protesters pull down Confederate monument
• CBC IN VIRGINIA | 'Not the Charlottesville I know': Residents chase away white supremacist

A rally by white nationalists protesting plans to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army in the U.S. Civil War, sparked clashes with anti-racism demonstrators in Charlottesville on Saturday. A woman was killed and 19 people were injured when a car plowed into a crowd of counter-protesters.

Officials in Memphis, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla., announced new initiatives on Monday aimed at taking down Confederate monuments. And Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, urged lawmakers to rid the state's capitol of a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and early member of the Ku Klux Klan.

"This is a time to stand up and speak out," Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said in an interview on Monday.

• Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer a 'strong' woman who was 'all about equality'
• CEOs of Intel, Merck, Under Armour abandon White House council after Charlottesville

Saturday's clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, in which two police officers were also killed when their helicopter crashed, appeared to have accelerated the push to remove memorials, flags and other reminders of the Confederate cause.

Some opponents took matters into their own hands. Demonstrators stormed the site of a Confederate monument outside a courthouse in Durham, N.C., on Monday and toppled the bronze statue from its base.

Birmingham, Ala., covers up Confederate statue

7 years ago

Duration 0:33

Mayor William Bells orders to board up a 15-metre tall Confederate monument were carried out Monday night, days after a violent rally by white nationalists in Virginia was sparked by the removal of a statue of general Robert E. Lee in that state. Alabama state law prohibits the removal of rebel memorials

Local television news footage showed protesters taking turns stomping and kicking the fallen statue as others cheered.

Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews said in a statement on Tuesday that his office would seek vandalism charges against those involved.

The drive by civil rights groups and others to do away with Confederate monuments gained momentum after an avowed white supremacist murdered nine blacks at a church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015. The shooting rampage ultimately led to the removal of a Confederate flag from the statehouse in Columbia.

'Sanitizationof history'

In all, as of April, at least 60 symbols of the Confederacy had been removed or renamed across the U.S. since 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

But such efforts have also made Confederate flags and memorials a rallying point for white supremacists and other extreme right groups, according to Ryan Lenz, a spokesperson for the centre.

• THE CURRENT |Amid death threats, New Orleans dismantles Civil War statues at night

Opponents of Confederate memorials view them as an affront to blacks and ideals of racial diversity and equality. Supporters argue they represent an important part of history, honouring those who fought and died for the rebellious Southern states in the Civil War.

Efforts by New Orleans to dismantle four Confederate statues sparked protests and litigation that became so contentious that crews waited until the middle of the night to remove a four-metre-tall bronze likeness of Confederate Gen.P.G.T. Beauregard on horseback in May.

Baltimore removes Confederate statues

7 years ago

Duration 1:05

The planned removal of Civil War-era monuments went ahead in Maryland days after white nationalists led a deadly protest in neighbouring Virginia. Crews took down statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson overnight

The violence in Charlottesville is unlikely to bolster the argument for maintaining the monuments as items of historical value, said Carl Jones, chief of heritage operations for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. But he said he would continue to make that case.

"Where does it stop? The Egyptian pyramids were built by slaves. Do we tear those down?" Jones said in a telephone interview. Egyptian archeologists, however, say tombs found near the Great Pyramids prove they were built by free workers, not slaves.

Across the country, 718 Confederate monuments and statues remain, with nearly 300 of them in Georgia, Virginia or North Carolina, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

There are also 109 public schools named for Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis or other leading figures of the Civil War-era South, the group said.

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh said on Monday she would move forward in removing several statues, including those of Lee and Stonewall Jackson. She stopped short of endorsing calls by some city council members for the monuments to be destroyed.

• The heated politics of public monuments
• Confederate flag: 10 facts about the controversial symbol

White nationalist leaders plan to hold a rally in Lexington, Ky., to oppose the removal of the statues there and are considering a lawsuit, Matthew Heimbach, chairof the Traditionalist Worker Party, told the Herald-Leader newspaper on Tuesday. The group said it has not set a date for the protest and did not respond to requests for further comment.

As the debate spread to more cities across the country, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican, told a WVHU radio show on Tuesday that he opposed the removal of such monuments.

"I absolutely disagree with this sanitization of history," he said.