Three months after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Richmond’s Monument Avenue Commission has deemed it time to get back to work. They held a meeting Tuesday evening at the Library of Virginia.
Although the Mayor’s Monument Avenue Commission pressed pause on its work after August 12, people didn’t stop submitting their thoughts. The commission has racked up more than 1,200 public comments.
Christy Coleman is CEO of the American Civil War Museum and co-chair of the commission. She’s been reading through public input and says there’s been a change in tone since Charlottesville. Discussion has actually grown less polarized, and more centrist.
“Don’t let what happened there happen here, take your time, be thoughtful listen to people,” described Coleman. “There’s got to be a better way to handle this. Is really more of what we heard.”
So that’s what the commission plans on doing. They’ve decided to make themselves available for small community meetings with church or heritage groups, so commissioners can hear from people where they are and gather quality input on the big question: What should the city do, if anything, to recontextualize Confederate history?
More Information: As Confederate Monuments Come Down in Other Cities, Richmond Aims for Civil Discourse
The Monument Avenue Commission will take requests from groups interested in hosting a discussion. They hope to participate in a range of meetings between January and April of 2018, with perhaps another large public hearing in the Spring. You can find more information and eventually submit a request online.
The American Civil War Museum also unveiled a new resource for those who want to learn more about Monument Avenue, or submit stories of their personal experiences with the statues.
At the public work meeting, commissioners heard from Richmond City Attorney Allen Jackson. Unless state law is changed or clarified, Jackson said, the city can’t alter or remove the statues.
Extra Audio: On Monuments, Race and Reconciliation in Richmond
