Update 6/18/20, 11:45 a.m.

A judge in Richmond Circuit Court extended Thursday an injunction against removing the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The injunction stems from a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff claiming his ancestors were the original landowners of the property beneath the Lee statue. On June 8, Judge Bradley Cavedo issued a 10-day injunction against the statue’s removal. On Thursday, Cavedo extended the injunction indefinitely, and gave the plaintiff 21 more days to file a complaint, according to The Associated Press.

Alena Yarmosky, spokeswoman for Gov. Ralph Northam (D), wrote in a text message to DCist/WAMU Thursday that the injunction was disappointing but not unexpected.

“We are evaluating the specific next steps, but make no mistake – this statue will be removed,” she said.

Original: 

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans at a morning press conference to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond.

“We’re here to be honest about our past and talk about our future,” Northam said, “In Virginia, for more than 400 years, we have set high ideals about freedom and equality, but we have fallen short of many of them.”

Northam did not give a specific timeline, but he said the statue will be removed from its pedestal as soon as possible and placed in storage, adding he plans to work with the community “to determine its future.”

The Associated Press broke news yesterday of Northam’s plans to remove the statue, one of five Confederate monuments on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.

This week, as protests have erupted in Virginia’s capital city over the death of George Floyd, the Lee statue was a focal point of the demonstrations, and it is now covered in graffiti. When Wednesday’s reports that the Lee statue would come down reached protesters who were gathered around it, they broke out in cheers.

Efforts to remove Confederate monuments in Virginia gained momentum after the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of a counter protester.

Richmond mayor Levar Stoney, who appeared with Northam at a joint press conference, declared that “Richmond is no longer the capital of the Confederacy.”

“It is time to show our community how much love we have here. It’s time that we embrace our diversity,” he said, “In the 100 plus years since these monuments were erected, we have known better. We knew better during Jim Crow. We knew better during massive resistance. And we knew better long before the dying pleas of young black men like George Floyd.

Northam made his announcement alongside many activists from Charlottesville who have advocated for the Lee statue’s removal. He was also joined by the Rev. Robert Lee IV, the general’s fourth-great grand nephew, who has previously called for the statue’s removal.

“This is a moment for us not to shy away from painful truths, but to address them for what they are,” he said.

“There are more important things to address than just a statue, yes, and we know that, and we see that across the nation. But this statue is a symbol of oppression, and if it is a symbol it becomes an idol, and if it becomes an idol, I am convinced as a Christian that the idols must be torn down.”

Some Republican leaders criticized the decision to remove the statue, including the controversial state Sen. Amanda Chase, who is running for governor and said Northam was “appeasing the left-wing mob.” The state Senate’s Republican leadership called Chase’s remarks inflammatory but also argued that “attempts to eradicate instead of contextualizing history invariably fail.”

News about the statue’s reported removal came one day after a Confederate statue came down in Alexandria. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, which owns that statue, decided to remove it a month earlier than planned. (Over the weekend, protests in Richmond led to a fire at the organization’s headquarters, destroying several Civil War artifacts in its possession.)

The city of Alexandria has tried unsuccessfully to remove the statue before, but a new Virginia law set to take effect July 1 gives localities authority to remove Confederate monuments. After the law was passed, Alexandria officials sent a letter to the Daughters of the Confederacy saying they wanted the statue removed and the organization made plans for July, according to Mayor Justin Wilson.

“This is a long path of a lot of activism by a lot of folks to try to get this changed,” Wilson told DCist Tuesday about the statue’s removal.

Confederate monuments throughout the country are being damaged during the ongoing protests, and Wilson suspects this was part of why the group decided to remove it early. He said the Daughters of Confederacy has plans to move the statue but has not told the city where.

The Lee statue in Richmond is one of five Confederate monuments on Richmond’s Monument Avenue. Unlike all the others, this statue (which was dedicated in 1890) is on state property — meaning the new law would not apply. Yesterday, Stoney announced plans to introduce an ordinance on July 1 to remove the four statues under city control.

In 2018, a commission that Stoney formed recommended removing the statue of Jefferson Davis from Monument Avenue but adding context to the others. Stoney said in a statement Wednesday that those were “appropriate recommendations at the time. But times have changed and removing these statues will allow the healing process to begin for so many Black Richmonders and Virginians.”

Northam said today it was time for the state to address both the symbols of its past and policies that perpetuate racial inequities.

“That’s why we’ve been working hard to reform criminal justice laws, expand health care, make it easier to vote, and so much more,” he said, “But symbols matter, too, and Virginia has never been willing to deal with symbols. Until now.”

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax echoed this sentiment and said there were “many more Confederate monuments” in Virginia than the physical monuments in Richmond and around the Commonwealth.

“Those Confederate monuments include substandard schools … Those Confederate monuments include a broken health care system, where African Americans and minorities have worse health outcomes. Those Confederate monuments include substandard housing, and eviction rates that are incredibly high … They include a broken criminal justice system, where American Americans are over represented by three and half times in our prison population.”

He said Virginia was “making a down payment on a new promise to the people of Virginia and of America.”

This story has been updated with information from the governor’s Thursday press briefing.  

Matt Blitz contributed reporting.