Governor Coonman Signs Law That Will Erase The Confederate History of Virginia
Jose Nino
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Governor Ralph Northam signed bills on April 11, 2020 that give municipalities in Virginia the power to remove or alter Confederate monuments.
The passage of this legislative package comes more than three years after the Charlottesville City Council voted to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee. The same city council subsequently took down a statue of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Charlottesville now has a new avenue for destroying American history via monument removal.
.“This is landmark legislation for Virginia,” declared Virginia delegate Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, on April 11. “Communities across the Commonwealth will finally have the freedom to reckon with our public history and decide for ourselves what to celebrate. There’s still so much work to be done, but this is a major milestone for all the advocates, activists, educators and community leaders who elevated this urgent call together.”
Senate Bill 183 and House Bill 1537, sponsored by Senator Mamie Locke, Delegate Delores McQuinn, respectively, repeals the state’s prohibition on the removal of Confederate war memorials.
As of July 1, municipalities will have the ability to remove, relocate or modify the monuments in their communities. Virginia is home to more than 220 public memorials to the Confederacy.
The bills Northam signed into law does not require a supermajority, but they let localities hold a nonbinding referendum on how to handle monuments.
“Racial discrimination is rooted in many of the choices we have made about who and what to honor, and in many of the laws that have historically governed this Commonwealth,” Northam declared in a press release. “These new laws make Virginia more equitable, just, and inclusive, and I am proud to sign them.”
Some of the bills signed also established a commission to recommend replacing the Robert E. Lee statue in the U.S. Capitol with another monument.
Confederate monument removals are one of the battles the cultural Left is engaging in across the nation.
The ultimate goal is to destroy American history under the guise of fighting against “white supremacy” and “racism.”
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