A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is seen in Market Street Park during the first day of jury selection for the James Fields murder trial at Charlottesville Circuit Court, November 26, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
A top official in the Virginia city where a white nationalist rally erupted in violence in 2017 has called for renewing discussions about removing two Confederate statues, one of which became the focus of the rally.
In an April email obtained by The Daily Progress, Charlottesville City Manager Tarron Richardson indicated that he wants to hold meetings with the City Council in June to discuss the removal of the statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
The newspaper reported that it obtained Richardson’s email through a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Richardson sent the email four days after Gov. Ralph Northam signed bills that give local officials the authority to remove, relocate or alter their Confederate monuments. The legislation takes effect on July 1.
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After the City Council voted in 2017 to remove the Robert E. Lee statue, white supremacists and other far-right extremists gathered in Charlottesville to protest the decision at what was billed as the “Unite the Right” rally.
A night before they clashed with counterprotesters, rally participants carrying torches marched through the University of Virginia’s campus, chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. The rally ended after one self-avowed white supremacist at the rally drove his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
A judge issued a permanent injunction barring removal of the Lee and Jackson statues, which means the city would have to petition the court to lift the injunction before it can take any action, The Daily Progress reports.
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Richardson wants to hold meetings on the statues’ removal after the council approves its budget for fiscal 2021, which it is expected to do on June 1.
City spokesman Brian Wheeler said last week that officials “anticipate being able to engage the community in the process later this summer.”
