NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — The Southern Christian Leadership Conference of the Virginia Unit (SCLC) is once again calling on the City of Newport News to relocate its Confederate monument in the Denbigh area of the city.
The group sent the letter to Mayor McKinley Price and City Council members last week, on the same day Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue. It also came on the same day of a memorial service for George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police sparked protests against police brutality and racism throughout the United States.
“Now is the time to bring people together and not divide them apart by using symbols that glorify the enslavement of African Americans. Blatant symbols of divisiveness,” wrote SCLC State Vice President Andrew Shannon.
A City of Newport News spokeswoman said moving the statue would be a decision made by City Council, and they have not had any recent discussion on the topic.
This isn’t the first time that Shannon and the SCLC have tried to get Newport News to remove the monument, which was erected in 1909 at the 1884 Warwick Courthouse at 14421 Old Courthouse Way. It also sent a request back in August 2017 after the “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
The SCLC says it hopes Norfolk and Portsmouth will also remove their Confederate statues. A judge ruled back in 2018 that Portsmouth does not have ownership of its statue, hindering its ability to move it, but city council started the process for its removal on Tuesday night.
Norfolk meanwhile is looking to move its statue to a nearby cemetery. A new law going into effect on July 1 will allow the city to move the monument 30 days after a public hearing. That’s set for July 7.
WAVY will continue to follow the latest developments in Hampton Roads’ Confederate monuments.