PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — In 1905, 40 years after the end of the Civil War, former Confederate soldiers and family members gathered outside the Princess Anne County Courthouse for the unveiling of a monument.
A monument built to honor those who fought and lost a bloody battle against their own country in the war that ended slavery.
Near this site, slaves were stored and traded; those transactions were recorded in the local courthouse.
Now, 115 years later and days after the death of George Floyd — in what some are calling a lynching by police — the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission is breaking from the Historic Preservation Commission.
In January, the panel did not call for the removal but the addition of context to the statue. Human Rights Commission member Jamal Gunn says that recommendation is no longer viable.
“The monument is celebrating, honoring and memorializing the people who brutalized the enslaved and mutilated my ancestors,” said Gunn — who traces his lineage to a slave named John who lived in North Carolina. “It does not need to come down now; it needs to come down right now,” he said.
In a letter dated June 8, 2020, and addressed to the entire city council, the HRC called for a reversal of the Historic Preservation Commission’s recommendations as symbols of racial injustice are falling all over the country.
Under state law, Confederate monuments cannot be moved or altered until after July 1. Gunn and his colleagues are not willing to wait.
“And it’s going to come down one way or the other. [Do you] want it to come down the right way, where you can be a caretaker of the monument? Or, it can come down the other way — the hard way — the way that is criminal but again, it makes a point,” said Gunn.
The photo from 1905 in Stephen Mansfield’s 1989 book Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach: A Pictorial History, was provided by Phillip Kellam’s late father Judge Richard Kellam.
The Commissioner of the Revenue says the dark chapter in American History has been romanticized and Confederate statues have no place in the public sphere.
“In my opinion, the statues, as exclusive residents of public places, are not fair and they should be removed,” said Kellam.
Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer responded to the calls for removal by saying on Tuesday, the City Council will take up the issue and set a public hearing as required by law.
Dyer said he is expecting a large turnout and the city is considering the convention center or another venue to offer social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He says options could include covering or relocating the statue.
Late Thursday afternoon, Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander announced Norfolk’s Confederate monument “Johnny Reb” will be removed within 24 hours.
Gunn says it is incumbent upon Dyer to take decisive action now before Virginia Beach faces a calamity over the Confederate monument similar to what happened in Portsmouth.
On Thursday evening, Dyer told 10 On Your Side that while he respects Norfolk’s decision, he wants to maintain the law as prescribed.