Charlottesville's Robert E. Lee statue will be melted down into public art : NPR
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
December 7, 2021 12:31 PM ET
Deepa Shivaram
Workers remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va., in July. Initial plans to remove the statue four years ago sparked the infamous Unite the Right rally where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed. Win McNamee/Getty Images
Workers remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Va., in July. Initial plans to remove the statue four years ago sparked the infamous Unite the Right rally where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed.
The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that once stood in downtown Charlottesville, Va., will be melted down and turned into a public arts project after receiving city council approval this week.
Debate over removing the statute helped ignite the Unite the Right demonstration in August 2017, a deadly neo-Nazi rally where a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one person. The statute was finally taken down in July.
As some cities in the South have removed Confederate monuments and symbols, there have been discussions about what to do with the relics.
An emancipation statue debuts in Virginia 2 weeks after Robert E. Lee was removed
In Charlottesville, the Jefferson School American Heritage Center, a local Black-led nonprofit, will take on the project, which it has named Swords Into Plowshares. Creating the art piece will help engage the Charlottesville community in how inclusion can be represented through art and public space, the group says.
"Our hope with 'Swords into Plowshares' is to create something that transforms what was once toxic in our public space into something beautiful that can be more reflective of our entire community's social values," Andrea Douglas, the center's executive director, said in a statement.
"We're giving people opportunities to engage with our own narratives and our own histories. This project offers a road map for other communities to do the same.
With Robert E. Lee's statue gone, Virginia reveals new plans for its pedestal
One of those communities may be the state's capital, Richmond. What to do with that city's massive statue of Lee, which was removed in September, is still in question.
After the decision to remove it was caught up in legal battles in Virginia's Supreme Court, the statue was finally dismantled — a process that involved cutting through the statue — and taken down and is being stored in an undisclosed location.
Gov. Ralph Northam decided to keep the pedestal of the statue in place at the time. But on Sunday, he announced the 40-foot pedestal was coming down as well, a process that he says will be completed by the end of the year.
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"I'm Melting"...
I think this is great. I can't wait to see what the art community comes up with
Just keep the horse and chop him off.
Leave Lee's legs, tho....
Seems like a ridiculous waste of opportunity.
Dallas sold their Lee statue for $1.4 million. I'm sure there is some wealthy redneck in Virginia who would buy that thing as a lawn ornament.
It is eleven hundred pounds of bronze to repurpose.
As scrap it's only worth about $3k.
There just doesn't seem any way they can't sell it for vastly more than that.
Our state has the last home of Jefferson Davis. It is a museum type thing. Even has a graveyard.
At one time they offered to take the statues and put them on the grounds.
Not one place took them up on it.
I guess proofreaders must be on strike. The Robert E. Lee statute? Really? LOL
I honestly think they will be better off. Lincoln wanted us to be able to move on after the war and statues like this just keep the animosity alive. We can’t move on if people are still pretending that, in even in some small way, they are still fighting the Civil War.
Lived in Beaufort SC for 6 years in the early 90's, it was not "some small way".
They were intent on teaching their version of the Civil War to the public school children.
Slavery was equated to Social Security.
Although my oldest complained the most about the twisted history and eventually earned a PHD in the military,
she chose to retire in NC and now lives in SC subjecting her own kids to the same nonsense she once reviled.
CMTSU!
I was just wondering if they're going to start banning songs from being played over the air, such as Waiting For the Robert E. Lee, and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
I wouldn't put it past some yahoo demanding it!
Somehow America has become a nation where around half of the population is easily offended by virtually anything.
Feelings are what's important now.
Bunch of fools demanding change because their little feelings got hurt.
America has become a nation where around half of the population is intolerant of the other half and whoever is governing at the time. There is a continuing battle for power, which in my opinion is not the way to advance.
Good use of the bronze, hopefully, the community will come up with something that benefits all the people. Well, there are some that are horrified that the statue is gone. (for good)