Organizers in Richmond are cancelling a rally in support of Confederate monuments planned for next month. They had submitted a permit request to the state before this weekend’s events in Charlottesville. But given the violence, they says now’s not the time.
Bragg Bowling, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, had planned to hold a rally at the city’s Robert E. Lee monument in September.
Sitting in downtown Richmond, just a couple blocks from the city’s 60-foot-tall statue, Bowling says his rally would have been for the “right reasons” --- preserving history.
“But we can’t anymore. And I don’t want these people at the rally, I don’t support them. I thought what happened in Charlottesville was horrible,” Bowling says.
When asked who “these people are” Bowling says he was talking about white supremacists, Black Lives Matter and “the millennial group that has caused trouble everywhere they’ve been.”
Even though Bowling’s withdrawn his permit request, he stands by his conviction that the monuments are worth defending; peacefully. He says his rally was planned in response to the city’s Monument Avenue Commission.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has called for context on Monument Avenue, in the form of additional signage or new monuments.
“But I can promise you this if they put signs out that say negative things about these people. It won’t be long before a significant amount of people in Richmond all want the whole monument down,” Bowling says. “Why are we putting up signs saying these guys are racist and we’re leaving these monuments up? I can see it happening.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
