Since Floyd riots culled monuments 5 years ago, leaders in ex-Confederate capital lament ‘s—t didn’t change'
Fragments of toppled Civil War monuments still lie in a lot beside Interstate 95, near the Richmond Wastewater Treatment Plant—just a stone’s throw from the iconic "Marlboro Cigarette" in South Richmond, the onetime capital of the Confederacy.
While Richmond’s tobacco-trading past remains symbolized by that roadside oddity at the Philip Morris plant, it and other cities across the south took swift action to erase reminders of the Civil War and slavery.
A report Thursday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch looked back at what has, or moreso hasn’t, transpired as those who had sought the culling of the monuments had hoped in the heat of the George Floyd riots of five years ago this week.
Virginia State Del. Mike Jones, D-Richmond, a reported opponent of the monuments, told the paper that "s—t didn’t change when they came down," and that "real progress" was what was sought in erasing the South’s pro-slavery and secessionist past.
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"As abhorrent as [they] are, give me life, give me real justice. You can keep your monuments." Jones told the paper.
One statue did find a new home, as Davis is now on display at the city’s Valentine Museum. It still has paint marks on it from when it was besieged by protesters in 2020.
Jones told the paper that gun violence and education-related issues still plague minority communities and also took a swipe at President Donald Trump in regard to the lack of change since the Floyd riots and monumental upheaval.
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"We didn’t really get the monuments because the spirit of [them] is in the White House right now," he told the Times-Dispatch.
While monuments have either been toppled by protesters or removed by municipalities across the South, Richmond – as expected due to its past as the C.S.A. capital – had many in prominent places.
The city’s tree-lined Monument Avenue was reduced to a series of traffic circles around unremarkable granite pedestals after the removal of effigies of Gens. Robert E. Lee, James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, President Jefferson Davis, and local scientist-turned-Confederate Naval officer Matthew Maury.
Then-Gov. Ralph Northam’s efforts to remove the last of the monuments, Lee’s, were briefly blocked by a court – as it was originally constructed through private donations and the help of then-Democratic Gov. Fitzhugh Lee; the general’s nephew.
While efforts to rename Robert E. Lee Bridge on U.S. 301 – the major pre-I-95 crossing of the James River – have appeared to stall, signage that once greeted travelers bound for Petersburg is now muted.
Fox News Digital reached out to lieutenant governor candidate Levar Stoney—who, as Richmond’s mayor, led the effort to remove the monuments—for comment on reports that the removal has brought little meaningful change.
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During his mayorship, Stoney said in a video statement that protesters attempted to take down monuments themselves while the coronavirus raged, and that in response to the risk of "serious illness, injury or death."
"It is past time, as the capital city of Virginia, we have needed to turn this page for decades," Stoney said, adding the city and "residents of color" had been "burdened" by its historical role as CSA capital.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, as well as Republicans in the greater Richmond area, for their response to the current sentiments, but did not hear back by press time.
One Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the situation shows the focus should have been, and should be, on directly addressing crime and pressing issues like the city's water shortage crisis, which reemerged this week after Richmond and even the State Capitol were stopped in their tracks due to a catastrophic utility failure earlier this year.