Richmond Can Remove Last Confederate Statue, Judge Rules
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Polk for NPR Rich Polk for NPR
Updated March 25 at 5:53 am
The battle over a Confederate statue on the campus of Howard University continues.
An organization called the Richmond Chapter of the Virginia Civil Defense Corps has petitioned the federal government to remove the memorial to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The statue of Lee in front of the university’s main Confederate Memorial Center is the only piece of the memorial complex that is currently on display.
The Confederate statue in front of the university’s main Confederate Memorial Center is the only piece of the memorial complex that is currently on display.
The two sides have engaged in a protracted battle over which statue should be removed.
For years, the Richmond chapter of the Virginia Civil Defense Corps has been working to keep the statue in front of the Memorial Center.
For years, the Richmond chapter of the Virginia Civil Defense Corps has been working to keep the statue in front of the Memorial Center.
But now the two sides have met on the battlefield of the statues, with the battle raging over the Confederate monument in the University of Virginia’s campus on Charlottesville, and on the Confederate monument in front of the Memorial Center in Richmond.
“We’ve been in court for over two years, and now we have a final decision,” says Scott K. Palmer, president of the Richmond chapter and the organization’s lawyer.
“It’s just a great victory for the people of this community that were trying to save this, and it’s just a great day for the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia,” he says.
The suit to remove the statue stems from a disagreement over who gets to decide what to do with the statue.
The Richmond chapter asked the federal court to determine whether the statue on display is public property, owned by the university, or a private property. The chapter maintains the statue is public property.
But the university’s lawyer, Douglas C. Blackmon, argues that the monument in front of the Memorial Center in Richmond is a “monument to public and private ownership, and thus a private property.”
“The Confederate monument in front of Memorial Center is a permanent icon that symbolizes the university and its mission as a public body,” he says.
The case also pits the university against a