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Agenda Item
2. 20-420 Court Square - Civil War Monuments and Memorials.
To receive public comment on its intent to remove, relocate, contextualize, or cover the following monuments or memorials for the veterans of a war located on the County-owned portion of Court Square, the site of the Albemarle County Circuit Court at 501 East Jefferson Street, Charlottesville: (1) the statue known as "At the Ready" or "At Ready"; (2) cannons; and (3) stacked cannonballs.
I serve as the Conservation Program Director at the League of Conservation Voters, a national environmental non-profit organization. I live in Charlottesville. My organization works to protect parks and make nature more accessible for all people in this country. For too long, people of color have been made to feel insecure and excluded in the outdoors and many of our public spaces. The Johnny Reb statue, the cannons, and the stacked cannonballs collectively celebrate people who fought to keep Black people enslaved. They are monuments to racism and their function is to intimidate Black people. There is simply no way that Court Square can be an inclusive and welcoming park and public space for Black people so long as those offensive statues are present. On behalf of the League of Conservation Voters and our members in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, we strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to remove them immediately.
I am honored to currently serve as the President of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association. Today the Association met and overwhelming passed the attached resolution supporting removal. I will read the resolution into the record, but also wanted to place a copy on file. Thank you.
Charlottesville/Albemarle leaders recruited soldiers for service with the Charlottesville Artillery. Many of these soldiers suffered terribly after signing up at Charlottesville’s request. My own Gr Gr Grandfather, Thomas Dabney Rhodes, serving under Jackson...in the Charlottesville Artillery, was captured and tortured at Point Lookout prison. He was a Veteran. Many find it shameful that the same locality...having “requested” men for serving, now wishes dishonoring soldier service.
All you ever hear are arguments for removal. In the first place, how are older residents going to weigh in on this discussion? Many would be unable to do what I am now doing. That memorial outside the courthouse is dedicated to the common soldier and his sacrifices, nor a general who chose a side. Many of these men were buried far from home, and this monument gave their families a place to grieve and honor them. Most of what you learn in history has to do with what the elites and those in power did. Local government passed segregation ordinances, "We the People" did not. This memorial is for the people. The Supervisors have discussed moving the courts out of downtown. Do it, and turn the historic courthouse into place to come and learn history.
There is no other courthouse in the nation where 3 of our earliest Presidents used it for various functions. The Civil War was also a major part of local history and the statue was put there to remember lives lost in that tragedy. If the city could replace the Jackson statue with additional modern history of blacks and civil rights, then the Civil war memorial there is fine if signage also gives info about slavery. (Perhaps remove the confederate flag on the base of that statue and the cannons). All of that would give more of a complete diverse history of the county. But if all history is removed, or if it is replaced by a one-sided new-majority viewpoint, then I think the truly unique historical value of the courthouse would be lost. We need to have the entire diverse community represented there as much as possible and through that, allow future generations to learn from the complex and imperfect story of our past.
Confederate statues glorify people who, if they had succeeded, would have kept millions of Americans in slavery, including over half the population of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. These statues should never have been erected, and they should not remain now.
In 1900 the Virginia General Assembly authorized Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville to erect a monument in the Court Square to the county’s confederate killed-in-battle with all of their names inscribed thereon. Along with that, there was to be a memorial to all who served the Confederacy from Albemarle County to be placed in the courthouse with their names, units, and “capacity in which they served” thereon inscribed. The aggregate budget for both was $2000 to be paid with city and county funds. The memorial was never created. Neither was the funereal monument. Rather, the powers-that-be spent $3000 to erect “Johnny Reb” in 1909—not to honor the fallen, but to announce that Confederate soldiers and their descendants were in charge and would be in perpetuity. (The attachment explains this in some detail.) Such can no more be “contextualized” than the Statue of Liberty. It must be removed.
The removal of Civil War monuments is often an immature rejection of United States history. Indubitably, very few self-respecting individuals hold fast to the values of slavery and systematic oppression. However, ordering the removal of these monuments is to deny their significance and our growth as a society. If in other countries, monuments and statues were to be removed at the whim of faux political correctness throughout history, some of the most historically enriched areas in the world would be deprived of their wonder. To deny the Charlottesville or Albermarle this historical significance in the name of appeasement would be a travesty. For those of us who were not around in the late '30s, appeasement seldom works out; there is always more to take.
To the Board,
By ordering the removal of this confederate statue in a public place, you have the opportunity to help heal Black children from the intergenerational trauma they inherit at birth, simply by being born. They do not deserve the stress of seeing this hateful and oppressive reminder of white supremacy. Black children deserve to fell safe and welcome. It is time for all the confederate statues to come down. A Virginia without any confederate statues in public places would be a better Virginia for us ALL. Please help the children. Thank you.
Legacy is something we value. What we leave for the future is something all of us, as constituents, children, parents, and leaders, prioritize. It’s not enough to have an impact alone; we must work to leave communities better off than they were before us.
The removal of this statue perfectly aligns with this virtue. And the existence of it does the opposite. Removal of this statue is acknowledgment of the grievous injustice levied upon people of color. The proposed removal is not revisionist - it by no means wipes away the centuries of suffering that black people in this country have and currently experience, and to believe so is incredibly insulting at the very least. The legacy of America is riddled with selective oppression. But it no longer has to be. By refusing to glorify racism, Albemarle is signaling a shift towards equality, taking the necessary steps towards building a better future. We must ask ourselves: What legacy are we establishing by allowing this statue to remain?
These statues should be removed as they are reminders of white supremacy and have no place in modern Charlottesville, especially in front of a place of law. Please remove them and do not give them to organizations such as daughters of the Confederacy that would only continue to glorify these men in the same way. Instead, I believe that an empowering statue should take their place. As for what to do with them, if there are no museums that would take them and recontextualize the statues, perhaps another solution is to make them into an art installation that contextualizes white supremacy and demonstrates the power in unity and unifying our society.
There are (usually) certain valid arguments that could be made for memorials that remember those who lost their lives for the Confederacy. But this statue, having been built almost a half century after, falls well outside of that conversation of remembrance, and into the conversation of direct racist intimidation. It serves no purpose of education, only to intimidate the black populace and promote the ideas of white supremacy. With that, I ask the board directly to take down this statue and put distance between Charlottesville/Albermale and it’s past racist actions. It’s past time to move on and be more supportive of our BIPOC.
This Board needs to remove this Confederate statue. No statue honoring a Confederate soldier, soldiers, or its white supremacist ideologies should remain in Albemarle or anywhere. Its engraved Confederate flag, armed scowling white man, and elevated position in front of an institution of law have no place in our county. For over 400 years, Black persons in this country have been systematically abused, intimidated, and excluded. This statue only exists in furtherance of that.
Further, this statue was not erected immediately following the Civil War to "honor the dead;" rather, white people erected it in 1909 seeking to intimidate Black persons from voting and seeking justice against those who attack them, more than 40 years after the end of the Civil War. Johnny Reb, "at ready" communicates that white supremacy is alive and well in our criminal justice system, ready to beat down those who speak out against racial injustice. Members of the board, please take down this racist monument.
I support the removal of the Confederate statue "At the Ready" from Court Square. By deciding to remove this Confederate statue, you can at last begin to atone for the harm done to generations of Black citizens of Albemarle County and Charlottesville. This statue has played a key role in oppressing African Americans and people of color. It signals the legal system's alignment with racist and discriminatory practices and intimidates Black citizens. Both overtly and subliminally, it influences every person who participates in the delivery of justice: the courtroom officials, the witnesses, the attorneys, the jurors and the judges, and even the defendants. It is up to you to set an example for the rest of Virginia and to send a message to the world that we will not abide with racism in any form. However, if you refuse to take appropriate action to remove this monument, you are effectively endorsing the white supremacist values it represents.
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I serve as the Conservation Program Director at the League of Conservation Voters, a national environmental non-profit organization. I live in Charlottesville. My organization works to protect parks and make nature more accessible for all people in this country. For too long, people of color have been made to feel insecure and excluded in the outdoors and many of our public spaces. The Johnny Reb statue, the cannons, and the stacked cannonballs collectively celebrate people who fought to keep Black people enslaved. They are monuments to racism and their function is to intimidate Black people. There is simply no way that Court Square can be an inclusive and welcoming park and public space for Black people so long as those offensive statues are present. On behalf of the League of Conservation Voters and our members in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, we strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to remove them immediately.
I am honored to currently serve as the President of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association. Today the Association met and overwhelming passed the attached resolution supporting removal. I will read the resolution into the record, but also wanted to place a copy on file. Thank you.
Charlottesville/Albemarle leaders recruited soldiers for service with the Charlottesville Artillery. Many of these soldiers suffered terribly after signing up at Charlottesville’s request. My own Gr Gr Grandfather, Thomas Dabney Rhodes, serving under Jackson...in the Charlottesville Artillery, was captured and tortured at Point Lookout prison. He was a Veteran. Many find it shameful that the same locality...having “requested” men for serving, now wishes dishonoring soldier service.
All you ever hear are arguments for removal. In the first place, how are older residents going to weigh in on this discussion? Many would be unable to do what I am now doing. That memorial outside the courthouse is dedicated to the common soldier and his sacrifices, nor a general who chose a side. Many of these men were buried far from home, and this monument gave their families a place to grieve and honor them. Most of what you learn in history has to do with what the elites and those in power did. Local government passed segregation ordinances, "We the People" did not. This memorial is for the people. The Supervisors have discussed moving the courts out of downtown. Do it, and turn the historic courthouse into place to come and learn history.
I only marked my comment as neutral because I only support removal of these statues. Contextualization amounts to compromise with racists.
Let us not continue to embarrass ourselves with these ill-made racist second place trophies. Please remove them.
There is no other courthouse in the nation where 3 of our earliest Presidents used it for various functions. The Civil War was also a major part of local history and the statue was put there to remember lives lost in that tragedy. If the city could replace the Jackson statue with additional modern history of blacks and civil rights, then the Civil war memorial there is fine if signage also gives info about slavery. (Perhaps remove the confederate flag on the base of that statue and the cannons). All of that would give more of a complete diverse history of the county. But if all history is removed, or if it is replaced by a one-sided new-majority viewpoint, then I think the truly unique historical value of the courthouse would be lost. We need to have the entire diverse community represented there as much as possible and through that, allow future generations to learn from the complex and imperfect story of our past.
Confederate statues glorify people who, if they had succeeded, would have kept millions of Americans in slavery, including over half the population of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. These statues should never have been erected, and they should not remain now.
In 1900 the Virginia General Assembly authorized Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville to erect a monument in the Court Square to the county’s confederate killed-in-battle with all of their names inscribed thereon. Along with that, there was to be a memorial to all who served the Confederacy from Albemarle County to be placed in the courthouse with their names, units, and “capacity in which they served” thereon inscribed. The aggregate budget for both was $2000 to be paid with city and county funds. The memorial was never created. Neither was the funereal monument. Rather, the powers-that-be spent $3000 to erect “Johnny Reb” in 1909—not to honor the fallen, but to announce that Confederate soldiers and their descendants were in charge and would be in perpetuity. (The attachment explains this in some detail.) Such can no more be “contextualized” than the Statue of Liberty. It must be removed.
The removal of Civil War monuments is often an immature rejection of United States history. Indubitably, very few self-respecting individuals hold fast to the values of slavery and systematic oppression. However, ordering the removal of these monuments is to deny their significance and our growth as a society. If in other countries, monuments and statues were to be removed at the whim of faux political correctness throughout history, some of the most historically enriched areas in the world would be deprived of their wonder. To deny the Charlottesville or Albermarle this historical significance in the name of appeasement would be a travesty. For those of us who were not around in the late '30s, appeasement seldom works out; there is always more to take.
To the Board,
By ordering the removal of this confederate statue in a public place, you have the opportunity to help heal Black children from the intergenerational trauma they inherit at birth, simply by being born. They do not deserve the stress of seeing this hateful and oppressive reminder of white supremacy. Black children deserve to fell safe and welcome. It is time for all the confederate statues to come down. A Virginia without any confederate statues in public places would be a better Virginia for us ALL. Please help the children. Thank you.
Legacy is something we value. What we leave for the future is something all of us, as constituents, children, parents, and leaders, prioritize. It’s not enough to have an impact alone; we must work to leave communities better off than they were before us.
The removal of this statue perfectly aligns with this virtue. And the existence of it does the opposite. Removal of this statue is acknowledgment of the grievous injustice levied upon people of color. The proposed removal is not revisionist - it by no means wipes away the centuries of suffering that black people in this country have and currently experience, and to believe so is incredibly insulting at the very least. The legacy of America is riddled with selective oppression. But it no longer has to be. By refusing to glorify racism, Albemarle is signaling a shift towards equality, taking the necessary steps towards building a better future. We must ask ourselves: What legacy are we establishing by allowing this statue to remain?
These statues should be removed as they are reminders of white supremacy and have no place in modern Charlottesville, especially in front of a place of law. Please remove them and do not give them to organizations such as daughters of the Confederacy that would only continue to glorify these men in the same way. Instead, I believe that an empowering statue should take their place. As for what to do with them, if there are no museums that would take them and recontextualize the statues, perhaps another solution is to make them into an art installation that contextualizes white supremacy and demonstrates the power in unity and unifying our society.
There are (usually) certain valid arguments that could be made for memorials that remember those who lost their lives for the Confederacy. But this statue, having been built almost a half century after, falls well outside of that conversation of remembrance, and into the conversation of direct racist intimidation. It serves no purpose of education, only to intimidate the black populace and promote the ideas of white supremacy. With that, I ask the board directly to take down this statue and put distance between Charlottesville/Albermale and it’s past racist actions. It’s past time to move on and be more supportive of our BIPOC.
This Board needs to remove this Confederate statue. No statue honoring a Confederate soldier, soldiers, or its white supremacist ideologies should remain in Albemarle or anywhere. Its engraved Confederate flag, armed scowling white man, and elevated position in front of an institution of law have no place in our county. For over 400 years, Black persons in this country have been systematically abused, intimidated, and excluded. This statue only exists in furtherance of that.
Further, this statue was not erected immediately following the Civil War to "honor the dead;" rather, white people erected it in 1909 seeking to intimidate Black persons from voting and seeking justice against those who attack them, more than 40 years after the end of the Civil War. Johnny Reb, "at ready" communicates that white supremacy is alive and well in our criminal justice system, ready to beat down those who speak out against racial injustice. Members of the board, please take down this racist monument.
I support the removal of the Confederate statue "At the Ready" from Court Square. By deciding to remove this Confederate statue, you can at last begin to atone for the harm done to generations of Black citizens of Albemarle County and Charlottesville. This statue has played a key role in oppressing African Americans and people of color. It signals the legal system's alignment with racist and discriminatory practices and intimidates Black citizens. Both overtly and subliminally, it influences every person who participates in the delivery of justice: the courtroom officials, the witnesses, the attorneys, the jurors and the judges, and even the defendants. It is up to you to set an example for the rest of Virginia and to send a message to the world that we will not abide with racism in any form. However, if you refuse to take appropriate action to remove this monument, you are effectively endorsing the white supremacist values it represents.