The Democratic-led House and Senate passed measures that would undo an existing state law that protects the monuments and instead let local governments decide their fate. The bill’s passage marks the latest turn in Virginia’s long-running debate over how its history should be told in public spaces.
The legislation now heads to Gov. Ralph
CoonmanNortham
...Governor of Virginia, another Dem Great White Hope. He won election by calling his Publican opponent Ed Gillespie a racist, but then, don't they all?..., who has said he supports giving localities ‐ several of which have already declared their intent to remove statues ‐ control over the issue.
After white supremacists descended on Charlottesville in 2017, in part to protest the city’s attempt to move a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, many places across the country quickly started taking Confederate monuments down. But Virginia localities that wanted to remove monuments were hamstrung by the existing law.
In the two legislative sessions that followed the rally, Republican politicians defeated bills like the one that passed Sunday. But Democrats recently took full control of the state house for the first time in a generation.