Above photo: Jefferson Davis memorial on the ground. From Channel 8 Richmond, Sierra Fox.
People are showing their anger at the white supremacy and racism that continue in the United States in multiple ways. Confederate statutes have become a target in Richmond, which served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for almost the whole US Civil War. On Monument Avenue, the statue of Davis, a Mississippi Democrat who served as the president of the Confederacy from 1861 until 1865, was among three statutes torn down within the past week in Richmond. Saturday, a statue of Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham was toppled from its pedestal. Tuesday, a statue of Christopher Columbus was torn down and dumped in a lake.
Recently, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the removal of a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Northam almost resigned when photographs allegedly of him in blackface were made public in May 2019. On Monday, a Richmond Circuit Court judge ordered a 10-day stay of Northam’s directive so a lawsuit filed to prevent the statue’s removal can be heard. By then, the statue of Lee had been covered with antiracism slogans and graffiti.
All nine members of Richmond’s city council said they would support legislation from Mayor Levar Stoney to remove all four city-owned statues of Confederate figures along Richmond’s historic Monument Avenue. The Confederate statues have long been a target of activists who oppose the celebration of the Confederacy that defended slavery in the Civil War.
https://twitter.com/cannotrunfast/status/1270733455559733248
Jefferson Davis lying on the ground:
About 80 miles away, protesters in Portsmouth Virginia beheaded and then pulled down four statues that were part of a Confederate monument on Wednesday. Associated Press reports that in Portsmouth, “The crowd was frustrated by the Portsmouth City Council’s decision to put off moving the monument. They switched to throwing bricks from the post that held the plaque they had pulled down as they initially worked to bring down the statue. The Pilot reports that they then started to dismantle the monument one piece at a time as a marching band played in the streets and other protesters danced. A protester in his 30s was hit in the head as the monument fell, causing him to lose consciousness”
On Tuesday, a statute of Christopher Columbus, who is credited with beginning the European colonization of the Americas and who began the African slave trade, was torn down, set on fire, dragged through the street, and thrown into a lake. Columbus is credited with the two founding crimes of the United States — slavery of Africans and genocide of the Indigenous peoples. Both crimes impacted tens of millions of people and have resulted in never-ending racism against both populations, which is a source of the nationwide uprising today.
Columbus was set on fire and thrown into the water.
Yes! Tear them all down, fuck them all into the sea.
Christopher Columbus statue toppled, burned and thrown into lake in Richmond, Va. https://t.co/ht09Topyuv via @abc13houston #Colonialism #racism #BlackLivesMatter— ZazaFL (@ZazaFL) June 10, 2020
Dragged through the street:
And, thrown into a lake:
There are more than 100 Confederate statues in Richmond – many more to topple.
In St. Paul, Minnesota a statue of Christopher Columbus was pulled down by members of the American Indian Movement. People celebrated as it lay on the ground.
https://twitter.com/ChalecosAmarill/status/1270904276370493451
After Columbus was on the ground, people celebrated with a round dance circling him.