#WESEEIT DAILY: JUNE 3, 2018 – THE MONUMENT AVE COMMISSION HAS SPOKEN. NOW WHAT?

Peace Family,

First, a quick reminder that a new episode of the Cheats Movement on WRIR airs today (Tuesday) at 11 AM on 97.3 FM. This episode features an interview with Roughriders co-owner/hip-hop mogul/Diplomats Jim Jones and best-selling author, journalist, and former MSNBC host Toure. Tune in at 11 AM or you can listen online at WRIR.org

Now, to the Monument Avenue Commission’s report that was released yesterday. I only have a few thoughts. I’ll start by offering my congratulations to the Commission. They’ve worked for nearly a year and the report is a solid, comprehensive, body of work. I know it’s easy to be critical of the report if you are opposed to some of the recommendations but, in my opinion, that is a knee-jerk and frankly pretty unfair assessment of the work that was done. I think, for the most part, Mayor Stoney put together a very solid group of experts, and they worked hard to complete the task they were charged with. A 115-page report is nothing to sneeze at. I’m glad they took the responsibility seriously and produced a report for us to debate about.

The big news out of the report is the recommendation that Jefferson Davis be removed from Monument Ave – if pending legal challenges are resolved and a state law on war memorials is amended. Those are big ifs but not impossible if people continue to vote in a pattern that changes the make-up of the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly. Currently, the state – led by the House GOP – is holding strong on not allowing localities to control their own Confederate and Civil War statutes. But I believe this will change if Democrats pick up more seats in the House. Again, the vote, on the state level, is not to remove statues, it is for localities to control their own statues. In a locality like Richmond, that means removal of some statues, in other localities it does not. Councilman Michael Jones (9th District) proposed a charter change that would give the council the authority to remove the statues. The council voted it down in December. That charter change vote will change now that the Commission has completed their work. I anticipate it will now pass overwhelmingly. Jefferson Davis is low-hanging fruit. Remember, during the Mayoral election, Jefferson Davis was the only Confederate statue that most candidates said they would support removing. Joe Morrissey even went as far as to have a press conference in front of that statue saying it would go if he were elected. Jefferson Davis in Richmond is the easiest of “Lost Cause” statues to remove. I’m glad the Commission didn’t fall on the sward for Jefferson Davis.

The other news out of the 10-person Commission report was the recommendation to reinterpret four of the statues with permanent signage in the short-term and the creation of a museum exhibit, mobile app, and video to convey the history of the monuments and what they stand for. (Sigh)…I get it – I’m just not a fan of signs and videos. I continue to think that Richmond is on the wrong side of history by not relocating and removing the statues. I also believe that reinterpreting the statues will ultimately not be enough in the future. Now, my gut tells me that Mayor Stoney is okay with signage and will move forward swiftly to get this done – once he figures out how to pay for it. Let’s remember that the Mayor didn’t put removal on the table until after Charlottesville and the tragic death of Heather Heyer. My read is that the Mayor’s heart is for removal but needed the Commission’s study and report to move forward. He will go along with the Commission’s recommendation and support the charter change (I think he’s already on record) and the other recommendations too. He will figure out a way to do signage swiftly and move this issue off his plate for the rest of his term. That is just my gut read.

The other recommendation was adding new statutes to Monument Ave. The one that makes sense is U.S. Colored Troops, the ones that I’m looking forward to seeing develop are Oliver Hill and Doug Wilder (recommended by Mayor Stoney). Oh man, you think the debate over Arthur Ashe was good. Let’s see what White Nationalist do, in Trump’s America, when you try to put Governor Wilder on Monument Ave. I support it all. I really do. Probably not for the right reasons, but I do.

In summary, I think the Commission took on the challenge and did well. While the recommendations are not for full relocation and removal of all Confederate statues, a move that I support, I do feel that the recommendations presented can be completed in the Stoney Administration. I hope City Council moves quickly to send up the proposed charter change to the state legislature and Mayor Stoney works quickly on signage.

I think we’ll be back in the future with relocation and removal back on the table but progress moves slow – much slower than I’d like. And we’re not talking about radical change, we’re talking about incremental change – let me go even further – we’re talking about incremental change within the existing system. That will take years and decades. And that’s where we are because…this is Richmond. (ugh) #WESEEIT

The final reminder that a new episode of the Cheats Movement on WRIR airs today (Tuesday) at 11 AM on 97.3 FM. This episode features an interview with Roughriders co-owner/hip-hop mogul/Diplomats Jim Jones and best-selling author, journalist, and former MSNBC host Toure. Tune in at 11 AM or you can listen online at WRIR.org

photo courtesy of RVA Mag IG page.