John Matthews
WMAL.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — (WMAL) It took months of debate, protests and violence for lawmakers in Charlottesville to decide to remove its statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, but that turmoil cleared the way for a much more peaceful decision on the city’s statue of Stonewall Jackson.
After five hours of civil debate, the City Council unanimously voted in favor of removing the memorial to the Confederate General.
Though the tone was less inflammatory, critics continued to call for the resignation of Mayor Mike Signer for his handling of the August 12th protest rally that resulted in three deaths. Several protesters in the crowd at the meeting held signs calling for Signer’s removal.
“I’m pledging that I’m going to try what I can to get this right,” Signer said to a chorus of boos. “You may not believe this — but, please, help me to get better.”
Both the Jackson and Lee statues remain covered in black tarpaulins pending the outcome of a lawsuit that challenges the City Council’s authority to have the statues removed.
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Billy Hathorn (Charlottesville, VA, historic district) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] via Wikimedia Commons
