Cities across America, fearing that they could become the site of the next Charlottesville-style confrontation between white supremacists and their opponents, are stepping up efforts to get rid of Confederate monuments. Four monuments were taken down in Baltimore overnight Tuesday in a surprise move ordered by the mayor, and cities including Richmond, Va., the former Confederate capital, are considering similar moves. More:
- Levar Stoney, Richmond's Democratic mayor, says he's had a change of heart about the Confederate statues lining Monument Avenue, the Washington Post reports. He says he once favored adding interpretive material and letting them stay, but he now sees that they could be a "rallying point for division and intolerance and violence." "These monuments should be part of our dark past and not of our bright future," he says. "I personally believe they are offensive and need to be removed."