Northam orders removal of iconic Lee statue https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/04/protests-northam-orders-removal-iconic-lee-statue/111906884/ Richmond, Va. – A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed “as soon as possible” from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday. The statue, which sits on state property, move to storage while Northam’s administration works “with the community to determine its future,” the governor said at a news conference where the announcement was met with extended applause. Northam made the decision after days of angry protests in Richmond and across the country over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck while he pleaded for air. You see, in Virginia, we no longer preach a false version of history. One that pretends the Civil War was about ‘state rights’ and not the evils of slavery. No one believes that any longer,” Northam said. The decision came a day after Richmond’s mayor, Levar Stoney, announced he will seek to remove the other four Confederate statues along Monument Avenue, a prestigious residential street and National Historic Landmark district. Together, the decisions mark a striking departure from recent years when even after a violent rally of white supremacists descended on Charlottesville in 2017 and other Confederate monuments started falling around the country, Virginia did not make the same changes. In part, local governments were hamstrung by a state law that protects memorials to war veterans. That law was amended earlier this year by the new Democratic majority at the statehouse and signed by Northam. When the changes go into effect July 1, localities will be able to decide the monuments’ fate. As for the Lee statue, Northam and his predecessor, fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe, have not previously pressed the issue. "And I saw a pale horse, and the name of him who sat upon it was Death,"