The pedestal that held the now-gone statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — and that last summer became a vivid display of frustration toward police violence and systemic racism — will be removed from its place on Richmond’s Monument Avenue by state officials before the end of the year.
The decision, which state officials announced suddenly on Sunday, was the product of behind-the-scenes deliberations between the state and the city of Richmond.
The removal of the pedestal is part of a broader agreement that will result in the city taking ownership of the land, which now belongs to the state. Gov. Ralph Northam’s office said the swift removal of the pedestal was an explicit request from city officials.
It’s not clear how or why the state and the city arrived at the sudden decision to remove the pedestal, but a Northam aide said it was important to the governor to see the land transferred to the city before he left office. Northam’s term as governor will end in just over a month. Republican Glenn Youngkin will be inaugurated as governor on Jan. 15.
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The land, a circle at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Allen Avenue, became the epicenter of Richmond’s protests against police brutality and systemic racism prompted by the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer.
Over months, the pedestal was layered with graffiti bearing calls for justice as well as scorn toward the country’s law enforcement system. The circle, informally renamed by protesters for Marcus-David Peters, a teacher killed by a Richmond police officer in 2018 as Peters underwent a mental health crisis, was at one point occupied 24 hours a day. The state later barricaded it, citing health and safety concerns.
The final fate of the pedestal and the land remain unclear. Removal will begin Monday morning and will be “substantially complete” by Dec. 31, according to Northam’s office. Northam’s administration will oversee the removal and promised Sunday the pedestal will be “safely disassembled.”
The pedestal will remain under the ownership of the state, similar to the bronze casting of Lee that the state removed in September. Once the pedestal is removed, ownership of the land will be transferred to the city, which will make a decision about its fate as part of the process to re-imagine Monument Avenue.
“This land is in the middle of Richmond, and Richmonders will determine the future of this space,” Northam said in a statement. “The Commonwealth will remove the pedestal and we anticipate a safe removal and a successful conclusion to this project.”
A spokesman for Mayor Levar Stoney said Sunday the mayor “appreciates the governor’s willingness to transfer this land back to city control.”
“And because the mayor believes Richmond deserves a clean slate when we take it, he supports the governor’s decision to remove the pedestal,” said Jim Nolan, the spokesman, in a text message to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“We requested the state finish the job it started with the removal of Lee, as we are doing with our own pedestals. The mayor believes that the pedestal, or parts of it, can and should be preserved in a museum, not preserved in the middle of a street/neighborhood.”
The future of the circle will be determined “through a thoughtful and community-rooted planning process, with the objective of repurposing the space in support of the goals set forth in the Richmond 300 Master Plan,” according to a news release from the city.
During the removal, the state will continue to search for the time capsule that was buried at the site in 1887. The state tried to dig it out unsuccessfully when it removed the Lee statue.
Northam ordered the statue removed last year amid protests in Richmond following Floyd’s slaying. The monument was located at Lee Circle on land given to the state by 1887 and 1890 deeds.
On Sept. 2, the unanimous Virginia Supreme Court sided with Northam’s order to remove the monument over the objections of five local residents who had filed a lawsuit that had blocked the removal for more than a year. The statue was removed on Sept. 8. It was the last remaining Confederate statue on Monument Avenue.
On Oct. 20 the court rejected without comment a rehearing bid from the plaintiffs who opposed the removal.
Staff writer Bill Lohmann contributed to this report.