Virginia is set to remove Richmond's Lee statue on Wednesday
RICHMOND, Va. -- A towering statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, is set to come down on Wednesday, more than 130 years after it was built as a tribute to a Civil War hero who is now widely seen as a symbol of racial injustice, state officials said Monday.
“Virginia’s largest monument to the Confederate insurrection will come down this week,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in news release on Monday. “This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth.”
The imposing, 21-foot (6.4-meter) tall bronze likeness of Lee on a horse sits atop a granite pedestal nearly twice that high in the grassy center of a traffic circle on Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans to take down the statue in June 2020, 10 days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality and racism. The plans were stalled for more than a year by two lawsuits filed by residents opposed to its removal, but rulings last week by the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way for the statue to be taken down.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/virginia-set-remove-richmonds-lee-statue-wednesday-79861917
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something more appropriate AND sculpted by someone with at least as much talent as those of yesteryear.
Say what you will for those who made these statues of the late 1800s, but they were generally talented. (once you get past the subjects).
I've been seeing some more recent statues that leave me saddened. That of the late Princess DI (just unveiled a few months ago) comes to mind. I'm sad for the two Princes, but to me, it is "wanting"-- to say the least (especially when you get a close-up of her face)... Yikes.
