澳彩开奖

The signed by Northam last month overturned the state鈥檚 prohibition on the removal of Confederate memorials, allowing local governments in Virginia to decide for themselves whether to remove these symbols of oppression.

It was a major step forward for the commonwealth, which has more Confederate memorials than any state except Georgia.

And it came just two months before the fifth anniversary of the horrific event that ignited a nationwide movement to remove Confederate symbols from public spaces. It was on June 17, 2015, when white supremacist Dylann Roof 鈥� who had posted pictures of himself with a Confederate flag 鈥� walked into the historic 鈥淢other Emanuel鈥� AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and shot nine Black church members during a prayer meeting.

The terror attack 鈥� and Roof鈥檚 embrace of the flag 鈥� inspired then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to call for the flag鈥檚 removal from the state Capitol grounds, a move approved by state lawmakers. Then, Alabama鈥檚 governor, Robert Bentley, summarily ordered the removal of several versions of the Confederate聽flag that flew alongside a towering monument just steps from the Capitol.

Since then, a聽total of 138 Confederate symbols, including 58 monuments, have been removed from public places across the country, according to the latest count by the 澳彩开奖. In a 2019 update of its Whose Heritage? report, the 澳彩开奖 cataloged nearly 1,800 monuments and other Confederate symbols across the country.

In 2019, eight Confederate symbols across the country 鈥� including four monuments 鈥� were removed from public places, and five more are now in the process of removal. In addition, five memorials bearing the names of Confederate figures were renamed last year.

Most Southern states, however, still celebrate the so-called 鈥淟ost Cause鈥� by designating a special month and/or day in honor of Confederate 鈥渉eroes.鈥� Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi each had their own Confederate Memorial Day in April. North Carolina and South Carolina celebrate their version in May. Louisiana, Kentucky and Tennessee reserve a day in June.

But pretending that these state holidays are about preserving Southern history is an insult to the residents of these states.

鈥淰irginia is on the right track in allowing for the removal of Confederate memorials,鈥� said Lecia Brooks, a member of the senior leadership team at the 澳彩开奖. 鈥淎lthough these memorials are branded as 鈥榩reserving history,鈥� they are actually state-sponsored propaganda designed to romanticize the Civil War as if it were a noble crusade, instead of what it actually was: an unsuccessful effort to prolong the slavery and persecution of African Americans.

鈥淭hese physical manifestations of white supremacy should be placed in museums, where they can be studied and understood in their appropriate historical context.鈥�

The 澳彩开奖 in 2019 launched a digital initiative to correct the false narratives of the 鈥�Lost Cause鈥� mythology, which idolizes people like Robert E. Lee and Thomas 鈥淪tonewall鈥� Jackson 鈥� Confederate generals who fought against the United States in order to preserve slavery.

Losing the 鈥楲ost Cause鈥�

In addition to allowing for the removal of Confederate memorials, Virginia will form a commission to revisit two statues representing the state, including one of Lee, in in the U.S. Capitol.

What鈥檚 more, Virginia has replaced Lee-Jackson Day with Election Day as an official state holiday. The move will make it easier for Virginians, including the descendants of enslaved Black people who were long denied the right to vote, to cast their ballots because they will have a day off work to do so.

Virginians should know well what the Confederate flag and other symbols represent.

In August 2017, hundreds of white nationalists converged on the college town of Charlottesville to protest the city鈥檚 decision to remove a monument to Lee. In a night march, they carried torches as they yelled Nazi slogans and chanted 鈥淛ews will not replace us.鈥� In the daylight hours, they clashed violently with counter-demonstrators, and a neo-Nazi plowed his car into a crowd of them, killing a young woman, Heather Heyer. The city鈥檚 decision to remove the Lee statue also prompted a lawsuit to protect the city鈥檚 monuments. The city lost.

But starting July 1, under the new law, Charlottesville and other Virginia cities will have the authority to decide the fate of the symbols within their jurisdictions. Northam also signed a law striking nearly 100 instances of 鈥� such as a prohibition against white and Black people living in the same neighborhood 鈥� from the state鈥檚 Acts of Assembly, the official record of laws passed each year.

鈥淩acial 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,鈥� Northam . 鈥淭hese new laws make Virginia more equitable, just, and inclusive, and I am proud to sign them.鈥�

History of oppression

The history behind Confederate monuments puts the need for removal into context.

They began to appear shortly after the Civil War. But they spiked during two specific periods聽when white supremacists were pushing back against the efforts of Black people to achieve more equality in American society.

The first spike started around 1900, when Southern states rewrote their constitutions and enacted Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise Black citizens, legalize racial oppression and reverse the political gains made by the Black community during the Reconstruction era.

This period, which lasted into the 1920s, coincided with the second rise of the Ku Klux Klan 鈥� which was founded just after the Civil War to restrict the gains made by Black people after slavery. During the 1920s, the KKK grew to an estimated 6 million members and was considered聽 a mainstream organization. This second wave of the KKK began with a cross-burning ceremony atop Stone Mountain near Atlanta. The property, used often for Klan rituals, became the site of a giant, mountainside carving of Confederate generals, begun in the 1920s and not finished until the 1970s, after the property was purchased by the state. It has been described as

The second spike in Confederate memorial construction began in the mid-1950s and lasted through the late 1960s, amid violent, white supremacist resistance to the civil rights movement. During this period, in 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace raised the Confederate battle flag over his state鈥檚 Capitol, in defiance of desegregation, on the eve of a visit from U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, a staunch civil rights advocate.

Currently, Virginia still has 111 Confederate monuments and, overall, 242 symbols honoring the 鈥淟ost Cause.鈥�

The new laws signed by Northam provide hope not only for Virginia but for all the South.

鈥淧eople across the country were horrified by the images of white nationalists violently defending symbols honoring the Confederacy in Charlottesville,鈥� Brooks said. 鈥淲e now stand with Virginia and other states that are working to dispel the myth of the 鈥楲ost Cause鈥� by ridding themselves of all Confederate icons.鈥�

Photo by Laura Buckman/AFP via Getty Images