As the one-time capital of the Confederacy wrestles with its Civil War heritage, a commission in Richmond has recommended removing a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis but keeping one of General Robert E. Lee.
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The panel of historians, academics and local officials spent nearly a year studying the issue and taking input from the public before unveiling the proposals on Monday.
The recommended changes would reshape one of the nation's largest displays of Confederate symbolism along Richmond's famed Monument Avenue.
The commission recommended removing the Davis statue and adding historical context to four remaining statues as well as erecting new monuments to reflect a "more inclusive" history of the city.
The recommendations mark the latest development in the national soul-searching over what to do with symbols of the Confederacy.
A 2015 mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville have heightened the debate over whether such symbols are historical artefacts that should remain untouched or relics that elevate a racist past.
Richmond City Attorney Allen Jackson has warned that because the Lee monument belongs to the state, the city would need permission to "take action" on that statue.
He wrote in a legal opinion that any effort to remove a monument would likely run foul of a state law that bans "disturbing or interfering with" memorials to war veterans.
The statute, which the Republican-controlled General Assembly has shown no interest in amending, is at the centre of a lawsuit in Charlottesville over that city's effort to remove two Confederate statues.
The commission said that "pending litigation or changes in state law," the Davis statue should go.
It "is the most unabashedly Lost Cause in its design and sentiment," the report said, referring to an interpretation of the war that historians say romanticises the South and de-emphasises the role of slavery.
Phil Wilayto, a community organiser with the group Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality, called the commission's suggestions "a cowardly retreat from the issue."
As long as the statues are standing, Wilayto said, Richmond is honouring people "who promoted a breakaway state from the Union that was based on chattel slavery. And that's insane in 2018."
But B. Frank Earnest, heritage defence coordinator for the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said even the proposal to add contextual signs was too much.
"You wouldn't want me to put a sign in your front lawn that says, 'Nasty people live in the house behind this sign,"' Earnest said.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who appointed the commission, said he would study its recommendations further before taking any steps, but he agreed that "something needs to change."
One of the panel's suggestions is to commission a monument dedicated to soldiers of the United States Coloured Troops, regiments of mostly formerly enslaved men who fought for the Union.
"The juxtaposition to the Confederate Statues could be a powerful statement," the report said.
Australian Associated Press
