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Bourne calls for removal of Confederate statues and monuments
08/17/2017 2:27 PM by John M
Jeff Bourne, 71st District House of Delegates representative, whose district includes both Monument Avenue and Libby Hill, released a statement today calling for the removal of the Confederate statues and monuments:
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71st District House of Delegates
Good I need to make sure to vote him out of office
you love the monuments celebrating slavery that much, do you?
Actually majority of the Confederates displayed in statues were against slaveryTo me it seems though if you do not like the history that is here that it’s time to get a ticket somewhere else yeah?
This is total madness. You all need to have your heads examined.
It seems to me that you do like the decisions of officials placed in office, through democratic process. Maybe, you should be the one buying a ticket somewhere else, yeah?
It seems to me that you don’t like the decisions of officials placed in office, through democratic process. Maybe, you should be the one buying a ticket somewhere else, yeah?
Actually we live in a constitutional republicSo it’s not a democracy at all
Well that didn’t take long…
Bourne’s going to be out of a job soon.
If you all would still like to see the monuments you can enjoy doing so in a museum
Thank you! I’m glad to see that these poiticans are starting to wake up and are starting to show courage! I’m sick of those statues, personally.
Mr. Bourne
First , I do not think we are “putting up with the past” as you so ineloquently put it. The era that generated these monuments was and are painful as so much history is. No, we do not “build memorials for which the confederacy stood,” in 2017. Have you ever been abroad? Do you read much?
If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. If you do not understand history and are not capable of obtaining an accurate grasp of it, then please keep quite.
"Actually……."lol
This will be harder than it seems. A lot of protection for these monuments. See here: http://wtvr.com/2017/04/28/why-monument-avenue-is-safe-as-cities-remove-civil-war-statues/
If they are taken down I hope they are re-homed somewhere to be seen, must for the artistic creation.
Brandon Czeizinger wow, you’ve really let your one fact go to your head.
I’m offended by Phillip Johnson’s WRVA building. Let us all focus on tearing that down instead.
@13 Thanks for that link. To the rest of you who skipped it: the Monument Ave statues are on the National Register. Click on the link in @13, it’s a good column by Mark Holmberg.
This is crazy
You can’t rewrite history. Get a grip and move on with the important work you say needs to be done. Stop looking back and start moving forward.
Brandon Czeizinger nope, you’re wrong. The facts of history are against you, so stopping making ignorant, insensitive comments. Then pick up a damn history book!
Which part of these monuments are history? Do you even know what the definition of a monument is? Has nothing to do myth history. And, most of these monuments were being put up during Jim Crowe and before desegregation. How about you stop revising history.
Even the families of these traitors say to take them down!
I certainly hope the Monument Avenue/Windsor Farms crowd is working behind the scenes and preparing some hefty lawsuits to shut this garbage down.
Chris Harnish the part about them being prominent in our US history is the history. No revision, like or dislike it’s a fact. Have a nice day.
If taking down the monuments is thought to be a resolution to racism, it is truly misguided.
Brandon Czeizinger help me with my history-Which ones were against it?
Charlie Ayers still monuments. And those monuments tell no history, no context, only reverence.Where are all the Benedict Arnold monuments? He was a far greater hero than any of these generals. We owe him much, but he’s also a traitor. No one ever built a monument to him. Why?
Chris Harnish perhaps the reason is what you proffered. "Traitor".
I cannot believe that some people here are actually defending pro-slavery monuments. Disgusting. TAKE THEM DOWN!!!!
Relax Einstein. Just a discussion between keyboard warriors.
Chris Harnish so you know:So, before we get all brave and macho on our keyboards, understand the following:Virginia Code section 15.2 – 1812 prohibits the removal of such monuments. Please review.Oh btw, Virginia’s outgoing Governor does not have the authority to override the Virginia Code, only the Commonwealth’s General Assembly.Understand this, the Democratic Charlottesville Mayor and Vice Mayor had been briefed, Governor McAuliffe knows the code and the two knuckleheads running for Governor know such, and yet the Virginia Attorney General sits quiet………. Yes my fellow Einstein’s you are witnessing political tactics at its best. Strategy designed to create and control a MOB……. so real issues are not discussed.So cliff book history warriors try a little patience and review multiple sources before declaring war on fellow FB participants.Geez……. if we cannot have diversity on FB, then maybe we are no better than the Mob.
“So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interests of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this, as regards Virginia especially, that I would cheerfully have lost all I have lost by the war, and have suffered all I have suffered, to have this object attained.”
-Gen. Robert E. Lee
History, like people, is complicated. I sincerely hope that we have the courage to grapple with and learn from our history. Hiding from it does not help us grow as a society.
Charlie Ayers thank you! So then why do we have monuments revering other traitors? You do realize you’re arguing against yourself here.
I suppose they will be removing the statue of George Washington from the Virginia Capital rotunda. After all, he was a slave owner.
Charlie Ayers what about Lee’s own words stating that raising such monuments would be inappropriate? What about that history.
http://wtvr.com/2017/08/16/robert-e-lee-was-against-erecting-confederate-memorials/
Its about who fought to keep slaves owned
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/stonewall_jackson_s_grandsons_the_monuments_must_go.html
Me to statues seem like a huge waste of money on par with removing them lol
Lee may have been correct, however; they are erected. Now if a statue gives you in general terms not you in particular terms such angst, I propose you have grander problems that a statue. What is next the Washington Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, War Memorials because of segregation. The litany of butt hurt is ridiculous in my opinion. We have greater issues to deal with than statues and memorials.
Interesting read on the topic, with quotes from Ed Ayers, Delores McQuinn –
Dismantling Dixie: The Summer the Confederate Monuments Came Crashing Down
https://www.theringer.com/2017/8/17/16160286/charlottesville-richmond-montgomery-confederate-monuments
“Delores McQuinn is no fan of Confederate monuments, but she’s also not particularly concerned with whether they stay up or come down. “The bottom line, it’s a part of history, and I can’t want to preserve my history and then say other folks don’t have a right to preserve theirs,” says the Virginia state delegate who represents part of Richmond. “Rather than trying to pull them down, I want to raise other monuments and statues up.”
Here’s a reprint of the Richmond Dispatch’s 1894 report on the unveiling of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial. Interesting read.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924092916679;view=1up;seq=358
Is there any interest in Church/Union Hill in having a facilitated discussion on the matter of monuments?
I like Ms. McQuinn’s comment advocating for erecting new monuments instead of destroying existing ones. According to an article on the front page of the RTD today Stoney estimates the cost of removing the statues at $5-6 million. Couldn’t that money be put to much better uses? Maybe new monuments celebrating civil rights leaders? Our schools could certainly use it to better educate our children about history so the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
If Germany was like America, they would have Nazi/Hitler statues, monuments and government funded museums. But they aren’t like us and don’t hail traitors.
Germany worked hard to eliminate the traces of Hitler’s rule. Many in our country continue to embrace the Confederacy and what it stands for. Most of the time this support is ignorance or an attempt for indirect racism.
In regards to the origination of the statues:
“The vast majority of them were built between the 1890s and 1950s, which matches up exactly with the era of Jim Crow segregation.” According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s research, the biggest spike was between 1900 and the 1920s.
Yep, so like 700 of these were all built during Jim Crow and STILL during the times of the Great Depression? Coincidental? I think not…
Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson were also a big slice of our American history, but do we build statues to hail them?
It should not be lost that there is a theme in Confederate monuments that distinguishes them from the Washington, Jefferson and other similar memorials: The Confederate memorials were not erected to ‘preserve’ history. Rather, they were erected decades after the Civil War in order to rewrite history in terms of the ‘Lost Cause’ narrative. It is precisely that attempt at rewrite/glorification that makes Confederate monuments controversial.
One may argue that such a rewrite is “a part of history”. However, does a rewrite deserve a monument at public expense? Is the rewrite of history worth the ongoing costs in terms of lives lost and destroyed not to mention those that may be led astray by acceptance of such a rewrite?
Just leave them where they are and let the kids paint murals on them.
Andy Barton as a recent white immigrant (i may as well be neon) , IF a person comes in and fixes a place, tidies it up, paint, work and spend some time on the property – it will create a desired market so everyone around can profit from it. One would rather sit on the desirable property then in some – where people do not do anything to it. It creates a good market. All of this monument-stuff (bear in mind, I actually LIVED THROUGH the war – recently) is toxic.It will make all of us (who have no bigotry in their bone) – go away. And then, it can all be as it was. Where one would be able to pick up the Church Hill home for a $1. Yes, it is bad what happened..but it happenED and what could we do TOGETHER to profit from it? Could we make Richmond as a top destination from Europeans, like me to come here and spend money on such a history? I think every slave and slave owner could be a story to tell and sell so our future generations would not look as dumb as we all do now.
Politicians advocating for removal don’t actually give two f’s. They are a simple distraction intended to create an enemy. In the past, slavery was the enemy, segregation was the enemy, in other countries terrorism is the enemy, starvation, diseases and so on. America is the best country in the world and it’s really hard to find an enemy. Seriously, why now? Why didn’t Obama speak out against them during his 8 year tenure? What’s next after the statues? Renaming of streets and schools? Just not elite colleges of course. Yale for example. Named after a slave trader. I bet no one will try to change the name because, politics. None of this actually means anything, it’s all about having the upper hand. Liberals are the pawns in this game.
confederate dog whistles are selling like hot cakes. Get yourself one.
I deal with incoming tourist into the city of richmond from Europe and they come to richmond for our civil war history. Richmond was the former capital of the confederacy, these statues belong here. Why not bring all of the statues from around America to richmond and put them in the tredgar iron works museum? This is not a history that should be glorified but it is and this is also apart of our history today. Have you been to Paris France ? There is a huge monument to Robert E.Lee there, do you think they will remove this ? No because it is a historic monument. Also did you know the eugenics movement erupted out of richmond Virginia how many people know about this?
@45 Because the Civil War was just like the Holocaust and Lee was like Hitler? Looks like President Trump doesn’t have a monopoly on false equivalencies.
I thought the Monument Avenue Commission was a decent compromise because it sought to add to our understanding of history. Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow Era could all be addressed by giving people more information.
Saw an article about neo-Nazis marching in Berlin this weekend, so obviously erasing monuments can’t address the underlying cause of hate. Real solutions are more difficult than smashing things we don’t like.
wasn’t this the guy that fixed Richmond public schools? maybe taking down monuments will go quicker.
Let’s build a new George Mason Elementary School with money we don’t have before we tear down some antiquated monuments with money we don’t have. While we should certainly learn from the past, the needs of the future should take precedence. I’m open minded enough to listen to opposing views of this.
This is a little off topic, but did you realize it’s against the code of Virginia for adults to wear masks in public?
Confederates fought against our country to create a government dedicated to enslaving black Americans. George Washington envisioned and fought for our country and for the ideal that we are all equal. Big difference.
Tricia, slavery had little to do with the Civil War. Educate yourself.
@ #57
Mark,
Please educate us. If, as you say, slavery had little to do with the Civil War then that begs the question: If slavery had not existed or been successfully banned in all states prior to 1860 would there have been a Civil War? If yes, then specifically what would it have been fought over? Please be as detailed as space allows