VIRGINIA BEACH – A rally calling the removal of a Confederate monument is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The statue has stood in the city since 1905, but in the wake of deadly events in Charlottesville, some are calling on the city to remove the 27-foot monument.
At 4 p.m., members of the Hampton Roads/Eastern Shore Progressive Democrats of America and Indivisible 757 will gather at the base of the Princess Anne County Confederate Heroes memorial located at the intersection of Princess Anne Road and North Landing Road.
The Virginia Beach rally is one of many that scheduled across the Southside in recent days. A Norfolk rally was held at the city’s Confederate monument on Aug. 16. Citizens gathered again the following day, calling for the removal of a Portsmouth Confederate monument.
City councils in both cities later voted to remove the Confederate monuments.
“The statue, a relic of a bygone era, was erected in 1905 to acknowledge ‘Princess Anne County Confederate Heroes.’ It was established as part of a wave of memorials across the South that had more to do with the scourge of Jim Crow, than recalling a lost cause, then four decades removed… the continuing presence of the statue today is an affront to the memories of those enslaved, victims of America’s Original Sin. The monument also stands as a grave insult to the living, including our school children that find themselves within walking distance of a tribute to our nation’s saddest, ugliest chapter,” the release stated.
According to the news release, rally speakers will include Charles Brown, an eyewitness to the events Charlottesville, Shaun Brown, a 2nd congressional district Democratic candidate, Veronica Coleman, pastor of New Jerusalem Ministries, and more.
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