The statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson may be nearing their final days in downtown Charlottesville if the General Assembly passes the bills to allow local control of war memorials; and a new mural envisions statues to take their place. Hawes Spencer has this report.
Transcript:
Hawes Spencer: The group behind the mural was handing out flyers Sunday on the Downtown Mall to passersby such as David Foulk:
David Foulk: It seems like local control of monuments makes sense to me."
Spencer: If local control lets Charlottesville City Council create new statues, this mural offers several possible models -- such as York, an enslaved man who trekked with Lewis & Clark, or the biracial queen of England. Here's mural artist Ramona Martinez:
Ramona Martinez: "Queen Charlotte is who our town is named after. There are no monuments to Queen Charlotte in our town. And a lot of people don't know she's biracial."
Spencer: In a city rocked by racial strife, most notoriously three summers ago, Queen Charlotte may be a unifying history lesson.
In Charlottesville, Hawes Spencer for VPM News.
