This story is something of a follow-up to yesterday’s posting about Savannah, Georgia, about its replacement of part of its history by things more, shall we say, topical.
This summer, another prominent Southern city, the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, was busy with its own continuing quest to erase its history. On a single day in July, statues of both Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson were removed from city parks before cheering crowds.
Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said at the time
[Removing the statues] is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America grapple with its sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gains. It is my hope that we stop taking these steps in 100-year increments and increase the frequency (of) bold daily action and critical examination of accurate history, even when it denounces whiteness as supreme.
Mayor Walker has since squabbled with members of her own party on the City Council and accused some White members, such as Lloyd Snook, of being “racists.” She has consequently withdrawn from the Council election scheduled for next month. (See the Washington Examiner, “Charlottesville mayor who hates her city ends reelection bid.”)
So it goes. Out with the old, in with the topical.
For more, see the Washington Examiner.