A statue of a U.S. Civil War general for the pro-slavery Confederacy that became the focus of protests for racial justice has been melted down in secret, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The towering bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Army of Northern Virginia during the bloody 1861-65 conflict, was removed in July 2021 from a public park in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Post said the statue, which had been handed over to the city’s Black history museum, was melted down on Saturday at a foundry whose location is being kept secret.
Tensions over the fate of the Lee statue led to violence in August 2017 when an avowed white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of demonstrators in Charlottesville.
The protesters had gathered in opposition to white supremacists who staged a “Unite the Right” rally against plans to remove the statue of Lee.
Then-president Donald Trump came under fire when he said afterward that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the protests.
The Charlottesville violence gave new life to a campaign to remove Confederate symbols which first gained momentum following the June 2015 murders in South Carolina of nine black churchgoers by another white supremacist.
The campaign picked up again following the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd, an African American killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Post said bronze ingots from the Lee statue will be used by a group known as “Swords Into Plowshares” to make a piece of public artwork to be displayed in Charlottesville.
The newspaper quoted the owner of the foundry, a Black man who was not identified, as saying it was an “honor” to melt down the statue.
They are making big mistake for destroying that thing and come back bite them in the butt and it was warning to all of us!!!
At least Lee & the Confederates stood up for the White people who made this country !!!!!!
They have to erase history…that’s part of the socialist/communist way…
Should be ILLEGAL !!! Melt down MLK & see how that goes !!!!
MLK was a person with honorable goals and he should be celebrated. Lee should be reflected upon only as the evil person he was.
9:33 MLK was a womanizer cheated on his wife constantly. But yea let’s erect a statue of him. Just like good ole George Floyd🙄 You people continue to surprise me everyday with your ignorance🤦♀️
Really showed your intelligence with that statement. Did go to school and learn anything
seems you must have been a no learner or just dropped out
6:27 Did you even read your own statement😂 Maybe you should go back to school and learn grammar.
So how bout we new made, just like the first one? Maybe get several made.
Yet try as we might, we cannot change history. Let’s learn from it instead of trying to erase it.
They could turn it into challenge coins and sell them for a fortune as a fundraiser.
I would certainly buy and proudly carry.
Make a New Larger version !!!
Melt Down MLK monument then and give them a taste of their own medicine !!!!