Legislators in Charlottesville, Va., voted Tuesday night to remove a statue of yet another Confederate general, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
The City Council voted after 11 p.m., asking a design firm to redesign Justice Park (formerly Jackson Park), where the statue now stands—effectively ordering its removal once all court cases appealing the decision are concluded.
NBC News reports that the hearing before the vote was contentious, with audience members up in arms about not being able to speak, and one shouting, “So a black woman can share her time [i.e., cede her allotted time to speak to someone else], but a white woman can’t share her time?”
Jackson is the second Confederate general that the city of Charlottesville voted to take down. The council voted 3-2 in February to take down an effigy to Robert E. Lee, but it remains after the city was sued in March.
The removal of the Lee statue was the catalyst for a violent white nationalist protest march in mid-August, where one counterdemonstrator, Heather Heyer, was killed and 19 others injured.
“I’m pleased to that my colleagues voted to unanimously to remove the statue of Stonewall Jackson, and joined the right side of creating equity within our city,” Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy told The Root. “Our community still has a long way to go, and I vow to push for equity, not equality, in every aspect of our city. From the budget, to the public parks, to affordable housing, to economic empowerment ... equity is the goal. Equity plus symbolism equals progression.”
Bob Fenwick, a City Council member who voted for the motion, said that the Jackson and Lee monuments “should be in a museum.”
NBC News previously reported that both statues were covered in black last month as a symbol of mourning for Heyer.
Read more at NBC News.
DISCUSSION
It’s almost like attacking and murdering people for wanting to take down your shitty participation trophies just makes more people want to take them down.