The simplest way to protect people in Richmond from being hurt when removing monuments would be to help people remove the monuments that City Council already voted to remove. https://www.richmond.com/news/local/its-unanimous-all-nine-richmond-city-council-members-back-removal-of-confederate-monuments-on-monument/article_a639a9e9-6757-5278-8da5-bf498241afb9.html">https://www.richmond.com/news/loca...
Farmville voted to remove a monument at 7:00pm on June 18th. They had a crane out removing the monument at 7:30pm. In Richmond, we get Kim Gray talking about the need for a "thoughtful and deliberative process" with no time line on removal. https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2020/06/confederate-statue-removed-after-farmville-town-council-approval/">https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2020/06/c...
This statement, as Richmond and Virginia spends who even knows how much money every night protecting these monuments with armies of RPD and VSP officers, is beyond disingenuous.
I appreciate that @thedrmikejones and @Stephanie4RVA are calling for the immediate removal of the monuments that Richmond has control over. https://twitter.com/Stephanie4RVA/status/1274917364933500928">https://twitter.com/Stephanie...
We need to get to important discussions as a City about moving money and power out of institutions that hold down our Black communities and putting that money into empowering those communities. These monuments are a lightning rod for hatred and a distraction and they need to go.