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Crews are due in the morning to begin taking down the 21-foot
(6.4-meter) bronze statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, a
former Confederacy capital, state officials said in a statement.
The figure depicts Lee in military attire atop his horse.
The statue, installed in 1890, sits on a 40-foot (12.2-meter)
granite pedestal. The towering memorial is one of the largest
Confederate statues still standing in the United States. Statues
that honor leaders of the pro-slavery Confederate side in the
American Civil War have become targets of protests against
racism.
During the last six years, more than 300 symbols of the
Confederacy and white supremacy have been taken down, while some
2,000 still stand, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Streets around the statue were closed on Tuesday evening as
crews prepared a viewing area for the public to watch the statue
removal. On Thursday, plaques will be taken down from the
monument's base and a time capsule believed to be at the site
will be replaced with a new one.
The base will remain in place as the community reimagines
Monument Avenue. The statue will be kept in a secure state-owned
storage site until a decision on its future is finalized.
Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, announced plans to remove
the statue in June 2020, 10 days after a white Minneapolis
policeman killed George Floyd, who was Black, sparking
nationwide protests.
On Thursday, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled in two
cases that Northam could remove the statue. In summer 2020, the
removal was challenged by nearby residents and a descendant of
the family that transferred ownership of the statue to the
state.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)
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