*This is a developing story.
The Daily Progress is reporting that Charlottesville’s city council, in an unanimous vote, will cloak the statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in black fabric. This will be in honor of the victims of the domestic terrorist attack by a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally on August 12, which killed 32 year old Heather Heyer and wounded up to 30 others.
Unite the Right, which attracted white nationalists, supremacists, and alt-right provocateurs, was held to protest the removal of Confederate statues. Charlottesville’s city council voted for their removal in April after a long assessment period. Confederate symbols have become a flashpoint for white nationalists seeking to grow their messaging through the heritage and culture conversation.
The vote to cover the monuments in black came after an explosive city council meeting last night in which three demonstrators were arrested after shouting “blood on your hands” and demanding resignations from city leaders.
