Charlottesville taking down Confederate statue near the site of violent Unite the Right rally

[Maeve]

Source: Washington Post

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Workers affixed straps to a 900-pound Confederate statue, preparing to lift it from its stone base Saturday morning, as a community marred by racial violence three years ago took a major step in eliminating the divisive symbols of the Civil War.

A crowd of about 100 people cheered at a distance behind metal barricades as the bronze figure of a Confederate soldier known as "At Ready" was being taken down after 111 years outside the Albemarle County courthouse.

A heavy police presence helped guard against the deadly mayhem that gripped the area during the Unite the Right rally three years ago.

Earlier, cheers went up from the gathering as bronze plaques came off the sides of the monument and a cannon was hoisted off the ground. The crowd — all wearing masks, many wearing blue Union Civil War caps — chattered and danced to music broadcast by a local radio station over the beeping sound of work trucks moving around the square.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/charlottesville-confederate-statue-removed/2020/09/11/f3f6ee24-f2b4-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html?tidr=a_breakingnews&hpid=hp_no-name_hp-breaking-news%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar

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Another one bites the dust...

[appalachiablue]

1. From the article:

- The Confederate soldier statue at the Albemarle County courthouse on Friday, Sept. 11, a day before the removal. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)



- A cannon was hoisted by a forklift and removed from the side of the Confederate statue in front of the Albemarle County courthouse in Charlottesville on Saturday, Sept. 12. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Saw the breaking on this!

They were supposed to be streaming this live on multiple formats but it seems the only one that has the live view is their facebook stream -

https://www.facebook.com/Albemarle.County/videos/318192269452093/

(screenshot - they are about to lift)



(am trying to get stuff together to make something to use up extra ricotta )



ETA - they apparently just discovered that apparently the metal statue is affixed to the granite cap piece under it so they are trying to figure out how to handle that since the assumption was to lift just the metal statue up off the stone monument.

[hot2na]

3. Bravo

Next statue please until they are all gone from public property.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Update - they confirmed the statue is affixed to the capstone (which itself weighs 1300lbs)

So with the 900lb statue and the 1300lb granite capstone, they are in the process of adjusting the rigging to handle both pieces when they make the new attempt to lift (they did a test lift and saw that the statue and capstone came up together briefly). They are in the process of lifting the combo a few inches shortly so they can add rigging under the stone part.



Neither their twitter or youtube feeds are running but they are streaming on the facebook stream -

https://www.facebook.com/Albemarle.County/videos/318192269452093/

[BumRushDaShow]

5. And the shit is off the momument

They will be removing the rest of the stone base too as part of this project today. Apparently there is a time capsule in the base somewhere so they will be looking for that.

Thank you Virginia given your state hosted the capital of the Confederacy.

[onetexan]

6. Bravo! There is one in Georgetown, Tx near me. Dems have succeeded in getting it moved

Just waiting for city to devide where to move it to

[TexasTowelie]

9. I hadn't read that they were taking the statue down at the Square.

I don't get as much news from Georgetown since the Williamson County Sun has dropped much of their online coverage.

I did read that the enrollment at Southwestern dropped by 11% or 12% based upon the number of students that had to take the mandatory test. The students are taking the situation seriously and the positivity rate is less than 1%.

[onetexan]

13. Yes, a committee of 8 was appointed who decided 5/3 in favor of removing the statue

Here is the article in Cedar Park/Leander Community Impact newspaper:
https://communityimpact.com/austin/georgetown/government/2020/08/11/just-in-court-to-move-forward-in-establishing-committee-to-look-into-williamson-county-confederate-statue-placement/

"The recent call for its relocation was spurred by the death of George Floyd, a black Minneapolis man who died while in police custody in May, as well as the death of Williamson County local Javier Ambler in 2019, which highlights institutionalized racism within the country.
Instead, they believe it should be moved to Odd Fellows Cemetery in Georgetown where over 100 Confederate soldiers are buried. Those who wish to keep the statue where it is currently located believe its removal or relocation is an erasure of history.

The commissioners will each select three people to be on the committee. Court members said they are looking for individuals who understand the history and can be level-headed in discussing a complex issue.
“We know what [the citizens of] 1916 thought. I want to know what the citizens of 2020 think,” Boles said.
During the meeting, eight individuals spoke on the topic during public comment. Of those, five were in favor of the committee, and three were opposed.
The establishment of the committee does not mean the statue will be relocated. Instead, it is a search for the appropriateness of its location with historical reason and purpose, commissioners said."

We had received the paper several days ago and i just read yesterday as a matter of fact. Wilco Dems have been working really hard - lots of protests and "good trouble", and it's borne fruit.

How are u doing TexasTowelie? Great to see you posting!

[TexasTowelie]

14. Well, I'm staying busy filling out and scanning forms, doing physical therapy, and going to

appointments, plus helping my brother on the administrative and technical aspects of his job. I'm able to get around the apartment fairly well and can bump up and down the stairs, but I have to get help from someone to carry the wheelchair along. I also had a new kitten enter into my life. The cat is slightly over two months old and I'm leaning towards it being a female. I think that she is going to be a lap kitty and she already has learned how to climb up the wheelchair to get into my lap where she starts "making biscuits."

And yes, I do know Odd Fellows Cemetery. When I didn't have a car I would go there to catch a buzz either by myself or with a friend. It was only a few blocks behind my dorm room and the police force for Georgetown was still pretty small--we used to come back onto campus via the golf course. The road that runs through there was called "two-toke" road among the campus stoners. If the statue is to be displayed, then the cemetery is more appropriate than the town square.

I don't believe that I know anybody living in Georgetown at this point. I do have friends in Walburg and Round Rock though.

[onetexan]

16. Aww a kitty! Wonderful u're able to get around well & have a new friend. I gather you're a SW U alum

Georgetown's old downtown is lovely as ever and fun to stroll around. But it's expanding with new growth and lots of new homes, same as RR, Cedar Park, Leander & other cities around. That confed statue - a reminder of a dark past - just needs to go.

[TexasTowelie]

17. Yes, I'm an alum from 1987

and my class ring and blue jeans still fit. The good news is that I probably have the best hair of any of my classmates and could pass for someone 8-10 years younger than myself.

The major building boom at Southwestern started in 1986 when they expanded the library and added a women's dorm. The men's dorms are still the same along with three of the four fraternity houses, the chapel, the administration building, and Mood-Bridwell (mostly faculty offices and the computer lab). The rest of the buildings are either new or had substantial renovations that increased their sizes significantly.

[lonely bird]

10. How about melting it down if it is bronze?

[iluvtennis]

7. Good riddance. nt

[dlk]

8. We must ask ourselves why we have had so many statues and monuments to traitors for so many years

If we add the military bases, schools, buildings, and streets named after Confederate traitors, it becomes abundantly clear how very deeply institutional racism is embedded throughout America. Let’s hope we have reached a moment in time where we can take a hard and honest look at ourselves, and take significant action to eliminate the monuments to this poison that infects far too many of us.

[Nitram]

11. I'm so proud of my town. We survived an invasion of white supremacists and came out stronger than

ever.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I have been watching the stream of this all day

It has been fascinating - not just the historical material being presented (and how they call this a "Johnny Reb" statue) along with the view of the removal, but also how these monuments were constructed, and how they have taken this one apart. They also found the time capsule that went with it - in a cavity beneath the base stone slab - and it was submerged in water and the cavity was infested with huge palmetto bugs.



They were jack-hammering the concrete footing away from the outside edges and now have a circular saw to make cuts so they can then try to chip away around the cavity to create enough space to lift the copper box out. The concrete footing itself is at least 18" deep (that was how far they test dug earlier, so it could be deeper than that).

I was just glad to get rid of the Frank Rizzo statue here in Philly but it has been interesting watching what is happening in your town!

[RussBLib]

12. What? No Proud Boys or white supremacists showed up to bash heads?

that's a step in the right direction.

They probably didn't "advertise" the removal very much.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Update - the time capsule was recovered but had collapsed

Apparently the approx. 12" long copper box was made from thin sheets of that metal and it is theorized that the original process of setting the cavity with the box in concrete probably collapsed it early on in its time there, allowing water to seep in over the past 111 years. The box was full of water when it was lifted out. They pretty much don't expect to recover much if anything from it. It contained quite a bit of clippings and writings and the paper will probably be considered lost.





As a note, they continued to dig around the edge of the footing to see how deep the concrete had been poured and even having reached 3 ft. deep, they still hadn't reached the bottom.

They will probably need a big excavator to remove the rest of that, I guess after they jackhammer it some more. They said that normally those types of foundations are rarely if ever poured that deep for monuments - even back then, let alone now.

So based on their lofty 1909 newspaper description about this monument and time capsule -

It is to be laid over the cavity in which is deposited the copper box containing mementoes or memorials, and will hold down that box until the angel Gabriel shall put one foot on the land and one in the sea, and proclaim that "time shall be no more."

It appears the Angel Gabriel has spoken.

The items that were put in there were published in that paper back then and are listed here - https://www.cvilletomorrow.org/articles/here-are-the-mostly-confederate-mementos-in-johnny-rebs-time-capsule

[choie]

19. sure took them long enough..

n/t