Monuments to racism toppling around the world.

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Work crews wielding a giant crane, harnesses and power tools wrested an imposing statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson from its concrete pedestal along Richmond, Virginia’s famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday, just hours after the mayor ordered the removal of all Confederate statues from city land.

Mayor Levar Stoney’s decree came weeks after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of the most prominent and imposing statue along the avenue: that of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which sits on state land. The removal of the Lee statue has been stalled pending the resolution of several lawsuits.

The Jackson statue is the latest of several dozen Confederate symbols to be removed from public land in the U.S. in the five weeks since the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked a nationwide protest movement.

In most instances, state or local governments moved to take down monuments in response to impassioned demonstrators, but in a few cases —including several other Virginia Confederate statues — protesters toppled the figures themselves. Also this week, Mississippi retired the last state flag in the U.S. that included the Confederate battle emblem.

Work crews spent several hours Wednesday carefully attaching a harness to the massive Stonewall Jackson statue and using power tools to detach it from its base. A crowd of several hundred people who had gathered to watch cheered as a crane lifted the figure of the general atop his horse into the air and set it aside.

“This is long overdue,” said Brent Holmes, who is Black. “One down, many more to go.”

Eli Swann, who has lived in Richmond for 24 years, said he felt “an overwhelming sense of gratitude” to witness the removal of the statue after he and others have spent weeks demonstrating and calling for it and others to be taken down. He said that as a Black man, he found it offensive to have so many statues glorifying Confederate generals for “fighting against us.”

“I’ve been out here since Day 1,” Swann said. “We’ve been seeing the younger people out here, just coming and constantly marching and asking for change. And now finally the change is coming about.”

Flatbed trucks and other equipment were spotted Wednesday at several other monuments as well. The city has roughly a dozen Confederate statues on municipal land, including one of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart. Mayor Stoney said it will take several days to remove them.

The mayor said he also is moving quickly because he is concerned that people could be hurt trying to take down the gigantic statues themselves. In Portsmouth last month, a man was seriously injured when protesters tried to pull down a Confederate statue.

“Failing to remove the statues now poses a severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety,” he said, noting that hundreds of demonstrators have held protests in the city for 33 consecutive days.

Stoney said the removal of the statues is “long overdue” and sends a message that the city of Richmond — the onetime capital of the Confederacy — is no longer a place with symbols of oppression and white supremacy.

“Those statues stood high for over 100 years for a reason, and it was to intimidate and to show Black and brown people in this city who was in charge,” Stoney said.

“I think the healing can now begin in the city of Richmond,” he said.

Stoney’s move came on the day a new state law took effect granting control of the monuments to the city. The law outlines a removal process that would take at least 60 days to unfold.

But during a City Council meeting Wednesday morning, the mayor balked as the council scheduled a special meeting for Thursday to formally vote on a resolution calling for the immediate removal of the statues.

“Today, I have the ability to do this through my emergency powers,” Stoney said. “I think we need to act today.”

Work crews arrived at the Jackson statue about an hour later.

Stonewall Jackson monument vandalized at Manassas National Battlefield

A federal investigation is underway after vandals spray painted "BLM" on the Stonewall Jackson monument at Manassas National Battlefield Park.

The monument was erected in 1938 at the site where Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson first received the nickname “Stonewall” at the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861.

Bolding=Mine
In other words it is fear of the mob is why the statue is down, the symbolism reason given was disingenuous.

How do you figure that?

The mayors own words, he said the mob trying to take the statues down might hurt themselves. Like he cares about them. Maybe he feared he or his own home might be targeted if he did not take it down, maybe he just did not want to spend the money on 24/7 police protection for the statue like NYC is doing for the Christopher Columbus statue. Somehow the statue stayed up despite the symbolism all this time, suddenly he is woke, yeah right.

Columbus, the capital of Ohio.

Columbus, Georgia.

The District of Columbia.

Are there many prominent places named after Columbus?

A giant 20-by-30-foot Confederate flag was raised along a busy highway in North Carolina this weekend to mark the Fourth of July, and, despite some complaints, local officials say there's nothing that can be done about it.

Local network WSOCTV reports that the Sons of Confederate Veterans raised the flag on Friday on an 80-foot pole along Interstate 40. It marks one of several Confederate flags that have been raised in the area after Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced in June that all Confederate monuments on state Capitol property would be removed.

"The Sons of Confederate Veterans, we’re trying to replace the statue with flags, and we try to put them on the interstate so more people can see it," Elgie McGalliard told the local station. "Take down our statues, and we’re going to put up a flag somewhere along the major interstates in North Carolina."

The group said it was raising the large flag to mark the Fourth of July weekend and the heritage of its members.

Some have already complained about the flags, but officials say they are on private property and there are no ordinances against it.

I’ve had numerous contacts from people saying they wouldn’t do business in town because of that flag," nearby Hildebran Mayor Wendell Hildebrand told WSOCTV.

He added that the $800 used to make the flag could have been "better used to help veterans."

1. King George was a specific target. People were not looking to find a reason to destroy statues. It was not virtue signaling, they did shoot at King George's army.
2. The British at the time were rightly or wrongly considered FOREIGNERS. In their mind, they were not destroying their own evil history because there was none at that point.

Are there many prominent places named after Columbus?

Who celebrates the losers they defeated?