(CNN) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam will announce on Thursday plans to remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue, a move that comes amid a national reckoning with America’s complicated racial history.
Northam, a Democrat, plans to make the announcement during a news event in Richmond, a source in the governor’s office told CNN on Wednesday. The Associated Press first reported Northam’s impending announcement.
The Richmond city government also announced on Wednesday that the city’s mayor and a city council member will — on July 1 — introduce an ordinance to bring down all the Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue in the former capital city of the Confederacy.
The plans come as the country continues to see widespread protests surrounding the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed last week at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis. Protesters have demanded justice for Floyd and have sought to draw attention to decades of police abuse toward black Americans as a result of what they say is institutionalized racism in law enforcement agencies.
CNN reported on Monday that protesters in Richmond had attempted to pull down the statues on Monument Avenue, which police warned was putting them “in grave jeopardy.”
“They are extremely heavy and would crush anyone standing too close. Please be aware of the danger. Stand down!” the Richmond Police Department said in a tweet on Monday.
Statues memorializing Confederate generals and soldiers have been at the center of an intense national debate in recent years, with opponents of them saying they wrongly honor long-deceased supporters of slavery. Those who defend preserving the statues, including many historians, argue they shouldn’t be destroyed because they can impart important lessons about the ugliness of the past.
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