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Exclusive: Q & A with City Councilman Dr. Michael Jones on Police Violence

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Dr. Michael Jones has submitted a bill to ban chokeholds, tear gas, and rubber bullets in Richmond. In this exclusive interview, he talks to RVA Mag about what needs to be done to reform the city’s police force.

Given the ongoing police violence over the past month, RVA Mag wanted to better understand who was calling the shots on the ground. We turned to Richmond City Councilman Dr. Michael Jones, who has been demanding an end to police violence. Jones and Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch have been seen at protests, giving them a ground-level perspective on recent events.

Since his election in 2016, the councilman has written policy and led council efforts to remove monuments and effect stronger gun control within Richmond. However, firm public positions regarding police accountability and defunding represent new priorities for Jones, especially in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and our local unrest. During our conversation, we talked about his pending legislation to ban chokeholds, tear gas, and rubber bullets, and the need for an independent investigation into Richmond Police Department violence toward protesters, as well as the shooting of Marcus-David Peters, an unarmed Black man killed by RPD in 2018.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RVA Mag: Hello, Dr. Jones, thanks for making time to chat with us. We’re assuming you’re burning at full steam with everything happening on the street?

Jones: How many times are you really a part of history? This is some dope shit, it just is. Regardless of where you sit with the monuments — 130 years. That’s ridiculous, right? 

RVA Mag: During this historical moment, we’ve witnessed numerous incidents during which the RPD has used force against protesters. Many citizens have described Richmond as a city in crisis. Are we a city in crisis? 

Jones: I would say we are a city that’s always been in crisis. You find out what you’re made of when pressure is applied. That’s the essence of a crisis. Other cities are handling the same things we’re going through differently. Richmond has its own demons. 

RVA Mag: The reason “crisis” feels apt is both parties have no intersection of understanding. The crisis is that the demands of the protesters are being met by endless police violence. 

Jones: You are expecting a dog to do something other than bite or bark. Our policing in America is based on a warrior mentality. We have to have some forward thinking with regards to law enforcement. You can’t beat us and protect us simultaneously. I think people are wrestling with this understanding and finally seeing what the African American community has been saying for fucking decades. We didn’t create this public perception of how the police is viewed — they have to own it. You have just enough white Americans now saying “this is bull.” Because I’ll say this, if it was just brothers getting tear gassed, white America wouldn’t care. They just now started caring about Blacks being killed by the police. 

RVA Mag: Let’s drill into some specifics. Do you know why Chief Blackwell stepped down so quickly?

Jones: I don’t know the timeline. Do I think he was the best hire? All you had to do was listen to what came out of his mouth… “We’re going to take back the city.” Really? That’s not what we need. 

RVA Mag: The timeline for hiring Chief [Gerald] Smith was peculiar given the job ad for a new chief in the Times Dispatch — two days after they had already appointed someone. Was city council consulted on the search? 

Jones: We’re not consulted with most searches. Honestly, I don’t believe in trying to micromanage the administration. I think council is shirking its responsibility in exercising their oversight. 

RVA Mag: Do you have the type of relationship with the mayor in which he seeks your counsel? 

Jones: I am a friend of Levar Stoney…But I am a politician. My people didn’t put me in here to fight the mayor. I pride myself on building good relationships — it is what I do. 

RVA Mag: Do you feel a more robust month-long national search could have revealed a more suitable hire and more diverse applicant pool? 

Jones: With what I know about how chiefs are handled, they go to “chief-makers.” They will go and talk to other chiefs and get recommendations on who they think is ready to be a chief.

RVA Mag: We’ve posted numerous shocking videos this month of police violence — do you think it is fair to say the RPD has gone rogue? 

Jones: This is what police do. You are expecting something different from the police… America is seeing what African Americans have experienced forever. There is a warrior, militaristic mentality within law enforcement all throughout the country. 

Stephanie Lynch and I were leaving [one of the protests]. The crowd dispersed. We were a block and a half away from Grace — literally — going towards our cars, roughly right next to the Jefferson. Tear gas canisters launched our way. A block and a half. What the hell? The crowd is dispersed. Why a canister a block and a half away? That is the wrong policy. 

RVA Mag: Some cities throughout America have now taken a progressive approach to police reforms. Even last night in Norfolk, they held a sleep-in at city hall, which did not end in egregious police violence. How did we get it so wrong? 

Jones: Richmond is the former capital of the Confederacy and we have lived that out. [Richmond] will uphold the Virginia way, and power is in the business of staying in power. That law enforcement entity is there to ensure this. They didn’t get twisted until protesters went out on Monument Ave…Next thing we know folks got tear gassed at 7:30pm, a half-hour before curfew. 

RVA Mag: You’ve now submitted your bill to city council to get rid of chokeholds, flash bangs, tear gas, rubber bullets — what’s your level of confidence in getting this passed?

Jones: I’m worried, and it is problematic. This should be a 9-0 vote, but I am getting “what-about-isms” on council and elsewhere. I think it is anti-American and wrong… I know Steph and I are there. But I also know we have people who are pro-police on council. It should come out of committee with a recommendation to approve. I don’t trust that it will.

RVA Mag: Are you aware of any disciplinary proceedings against the RPD? The mayor put it out there and the police are spinning a narrative which has been contradicted by the videos we’ve all seen. Who runs the police department if there is no accountability or oversight? 

Jones: No — I wish. If they are telling me they’re not using rubber-bullets — that’s why I went out there. I called the mayor while I was out there and told him “they’re popping shit back here.” The mayor called [the RPD] and said they’re not… I think [RPD] are giving some bad information, and some people are spinning some things, which shouldn’t be spun. And if the mayor’s not getting accurate information then someone should be fired…Unfortunately it is their MO to do whatever they want and spin the narrative. 

RVA Mag: Are you confident that RPD is working within legal boundaries when they declare unlawful assembly? 

Jones: You’re expecting blood out of a turnip. You’re expecting an apple to be anything other than crunchy. I’ve heard an amendment [to anti-tear gas legislation] saying: “Let’s ban it except for a riot…” They’ll deem it a riot if they want to!

RVA Mag: Do you support the disengagement of law enforcement from Marcus-David Peters circle?

Jones: When I’m working through back channels, I’ve said, “If you guys stand down it will be different.” And so, there was a night that it was. Some calls were made… [But] if you come in riot gear, they’re going to walk up to you. Because it’s an act of intimidation.

RVA Mag: Do you have a sense of how much the city has spent fighting protesters? 

Jones: That’s one of my asks. When we get it, I’m going to make it public. Tell the people how much it is. I want to know about asset forfeiture. I want to know what y’all are doing with that money. Where’s it going when you get the money from these dope boys?

RVA Mag: What’s the general atmosphere at City Council? We’ve seen a month of strife, and outside of you and Councilwoman Lynch, the bench has been pretty quiet. 

Jones: [Councilpersons] are saying they want it to end. “Stop tearing up our city.” You’ve got that side saying that. It’s still Virginia. We’re still moderate and conservative.

RVA Mag: Do you have the sense that the majority of City Council feels that it’s the protesters who need to stand down more than the cops?

Jones: I would say we have a lot of pro-police persons on city council. They’re terrified by the word ‘defund.’

RVA Mag: You tweeted about it a month ago, but what’s your stance on defunding?

Jones: I’m putting in the paper… I’ve seen firsthand how they go in and beef up their budget. The mayor did a good job of stopping this practice because a budget would be introduced, the department heads wouldn’t like the amount that was budgeted, so they would come back to Council and get five votes for this [extra] thing. You have the chief of police coming around saying, “Look, we’ve got this model, predictive policing, it’s going to make our streets safer, we can do these things…” And I didn’t know any better, so I thought, “OK, this is how it’s done.”  But it’s like, “You guys are inflating things. Do you actually need it?”

RVA Mag: Do you have a sense of what the chain of command is when things are happening in real-time at protests? Is the mayor involved in real time? The police chief?

Jones: I know [they] have [their] frontline guys. I know there are some sergeants on-hand behind them, and I know they’re on the phone with someone in some other place. That place could be five blocks away, it could be at the top of a tower. I don’t know. But I know this: if I were the chief of police, I’m going to try and make some calls. It’s going to be all hands on deck. We’re going to treat tear gas like it’s deadly force. 

RVA Mag: The RPD press release on the morning of June 27 stated there were no chemical agents used on demonstrators on June 26, except for one demonstrator who was pepper sprayed. However, several people were suffering from chemical exposure. Do you support an independent investigation into instances when it seems like the police have not been transparent?

Jones: With you putting me on the record for it, I think we’re going to get to that. We have been talking about the need for an independent investigation into what’s going on. There have been so many conflicting stories… you tear-gassed innocent civilians! We need to have an in-depth conversation. We need to investigate. I need someone coming from outside. I’ve always believed the police cannot police the police.

RVA Mag: I know it is not your domain as a Councilman, but do you support the re-opening of the Marcus-David Peters case?

Jones: Here’s what I think — the police do a shitty job of ministering and serving the families of the deceased. You can go back to 2002. I talked to the family.

RVA Mag: The family of the deceased victim of former Chief Blackwell’s shooting?

Jones: Yes. How they were treated is abhorrent.

RVA Mag: Can you speak to that in detail?

Jones: Nope. This is out of respect to the family. This is real talk. They don’t want any press from this.

RVA Mag: We’ve seen the family’s memo. They did release a public memo stating that they’ve been lied to.

Jones: What’s in that memo does not get to the heart-wrenching detail. So, if [Peters’ sister] Princess Blanding and the family of Marcus-David Peters is going through anything like what this other family went through, even though it’s already been investigated, it should be done.

RVA Mag: Do you have any plan to encourage the Commonwealth’s Attorney to re-open the case?

Jones: I would be willing to have a conversation with her and say, “What is it going to take?” This family has a hole in their heart that may never be filled. And I’ll say this: I don’t think I handled it as well as I could have as a Black male on City Council.

RVA Mag: What do you wish you had done better?

Jones: I wish I would have been more vocal. I wish I had persisted more. I wish I had conversations with the family sooner… I learned a lot. I sent out a tweet [about the killing of Marcus-David Peters]: “Naked. Unarmed. Waiting…” Can I tell you that Chief [Durham] called me? It wasn’t a pleasant conversation.

RVA Mag: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Good luck with everything. 

*Landon Shroder contributed to this interview. Top Photo: Dr. Michael Jones, via Twitter

Skillz for a New Generation: Q & A with Richmond Rap Royalty Mad Skillz

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In the midst of big changes in the local landscape, RVA Mag caught up with Richmond hip hop legend (Mad) Skillz to talk monuments, music, and making real change in the Commonwealth.

Skillz has the wisdom of experience, having worked with everyone from The Roots and Nas to Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. A veteran of the game, Skillz has not only presaged current events, but laid the foundation for generations of artists to come. During this time of protest, unrest, and political upheaval, who better to help navigate the many complex realities of life in the commonwealth?

RVA Mag caught up with Skillz and Richmond rapper Michael Millions one rainy day last week at the (soon to be removed) statue of Robert E. Lee to chat about the movement, Richmond, and how rap and hip hop has accelerated our consciousness.

RVA Mag: You’re a Richmond hero, rap legend, you have national prominence: With all of your experience, what’s this movement mean to you right now, where we at? 

Skillz: I’m proud to see the city take a stand. Some of these objects have been here for as long as I can remember [points to the statue of Robert E. Lee]. For people to take a stand against systematic oppression and racism, I knew it was a bubble that was going to burst at some point — I’m just glad that I’m here to see it. 

Michael Millions [to Skillz]: Prior to the civil unrest, have you ever been this close to this monument?

Skillz: No, not this close. 

Michael Millions: Driving through the city or utilizing this roundabout, have you ever even intentionally looked up at this statue? 

Skillz: I’ve been in Richmond since 1987 and I have never looked to the top of this monument. During the VCU days when I was living a block away, I never looked up going around this corner. 

Michael Millions: And you’ve never steeped foot on this soil in this city? 

Skillz: I have never stepped on this soil. 

RVA Mag: When you guys saw this statue in its current form, what was the first thing that popped into your mind?

Michael Millions: When I think of structures going up, I look at structure and shapes, everything they laid down, the foundations — there is a lot of intention to raise this, this high. And on top of all this, there is this statue on top. 

Everything returns to the earth. Even if they left it up in this form, the people have reclaimed the land. We like this now — it is definitely an art piece. 

Skillz: I have talked to plenty of people from out of town who had to come down here and take photos, and let their children see it before they take it down. 

RVA Mag: Skillz, coming up in the 90s, what’s it like to see this transitional moment, not just in Richmond but also in the US. Is Richmond playing a deeper role than most people think? 

Skillz: The difference between the 90s and now is about moving around the city — we chose to ignore these [Confederate statues], because they were never speaking to us. We never saw ourselves. They have way more of these than we had any representation. Now, for this to be a space that the oppressed feels to have taken over and reclaimed, it feels good. I believe this generation can be the generation to push forward for real change, because it is different now. A lot of things that used to fly can’t fly anymore; not without question, revolt, or repercussions. 

RVA Mag: Did you ever expect to see this in your lifetime? 

Skillz: In Virginia, in the Commonwealth? No, never. Whatever this is going to be, it needs to represent all people, not just some people. 

RVA Mag: What does this movement look like to you as a man of conscience, a creator? You have also been the artist-in-residence at University of Richmond. You sit at the nexus of all these things. 

Skillz: You might feel as if there is no change you can make, but what I want to say is that you can make that change. People at my age, not all, but some, have become complacent. I’m proud of all the young people stepping forward to make change. Now, when these cops stand in front of the protest groups and they see these people standing in front of them, it’s not just black people; it’s also gay people, Latino people, trans people. The army of “you’re not going to oppress us” is way bigger than just Black people. 

Sooner or later they’re going to have to realize that this is a whole new thing. 

RVA Mag: As someone who has articulated the Black experience in the 90s through their music, does this movement feel different?

Skillz: Yes. This is at my front door. I came back from LA to buildings burning and buses burning on Broad St. I’ve never seen that shit in my life. To see that, I can’t even imagine these people living here and seeing this thinking, “this shit is really happening outside my window.” And that’s how change happens. You almost don’t believe it is right at your front door, but it is. It is uncomfortable and uneasy, but that is what change is. 

RVA Mag: It seems like the boundaries of American culture have shifted quite rapidly in the past two weeks. The NFL, NASCAR, major corporations — even if its disingenuous, it’s still happening. What role has rap and hip hop culture played in pushing this national consciousness over the past 20 to 30 years?

Skillz: It has shown that it can’t be ignored. From day one people always thought it was a fad and it would fade away. No one saw this coming — that it would be a major global trillion-dollar business. Black culture is culture; this shit ain’t cool until we do it. And then when everyone else starts doing it, we stop and start doing something else. It is a transition, a cycle. These voices will be heard one way or another. This is the most popular music in the world — it is so prevalent in today’s society that you almost overlook it, because it is in everything. 

RVA Mag: From a certain perspective, it is America’s number one cultural export. 

Skillz: Without a doubt. I’ve been to places where they don’t even speak English and they know the words to 50 Cent, “In The Club” — some people have learned English through hip hop. 

RVA Mag: Do you feel Virginia ever really took ownership of its rap and hip hop scene? Given the sheer number of national and international acts that have come out of Virginia, it has always seemed strange to not represent that the way New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and other places would have. Do you think Virginia has come full circle in terms of national rap and hip hop culture? 

Skillz: No I don’t think we have. It takes perseverance, more soldiers, more cracks in the armor. When you look at some things that you never thought would happen, they have happened. So you can’t say that the history has to be absorbed and respected, because amazing things have happened here, and there are more amazing things to come. 

RVA Mag: Michael, let me ask you something. Based on what Skillz said, what is the next step for Richmond rap and hip hop? 

Michael Millions: More perseverance. Richmond is such a special place, our awareness in music is what makes artists from Richmond so special. If we could get in front of the curve, in terms of bringing that craftsmanship back to music. Look at where we live, there is not an artist here that is not impacted by this city. Where we live makes our writing and thoughts very special. I don’t think anything is going to stop us coming out of this area. 

RVA Mag: Skillz, as the artist-in-residence at University of Richmond — given that the students which go to that school are quite privileged and it’s one of the most expensive schools in the US — what was your main takeaway from there?

Skillz: In the midst of being there and seeing the diverse students, our class was one of the most popular on campus — it was definitely something that took me to a place where I could acknowledge that this music [rap and hip hop] was the voice of America. I worked at VCU too, so I can’t say that I want to be exclusive to [University of] Richmond. I think it would be dope to teach all across the city. I would teach this class at all schools if I could, because I feel like everyone can absorb something from that. When they take my class on the first day, I ask, “Why did you take this class?” A lot of them come and think it is going to be an easy A, but it’s not; they have to do the work. 

The big takeaway is that you never stop learning. You’re always going to be a student. 

RVA Mag:

Great seeing you guys. Thanks for the lessons.

The First To Go: Who Was Williams Carter Wickham Anyway?

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Williams Carter Wickham isn’t in a lot of history textbooks. When his statue was the first to fall in Richmond last week, it left many of us wondering, “Who was that guy?”

If you look at the order in which monuments are being pulled down in Richmond, they seem to be falling in order of accessibility. Robert E Lee, one of the most beloved heroes of the Confederacy, towers above the reach of protesters looking to chip away at Confederate glorification in Richmond. By contrast, the statue of Williams Carter Wickham, located in Monroe Park, was pretty low to the ground, symbolically and literally. Not a bad place to start.

You don’t need to know much about Wickham to understand why protesters removed the Monroe Park statue. Just read the plaque: “Presented to the city of Richmond by comrades in the Confederate army.” As a Confederate Civil War general, Wickham goes against everything those in the Black Lives Matter movement are fighting for. 

On the evening of Saturday June 6, a group of protesters pulled the statue down with rope, making national news and inspiring similar acts. “Richmond has had decades to address this issue and it hasn’t, so now the people have,” Gallery 5 curator Prabir Mehta told ABC News.

As it turns out, it’s not incredibly difficult to topple statues. For those curious about how it’s done, you can read this article published by Popular Mechanics.

As Mehta pointed out to ABC News, most passersby would be unaware of the dialogue surrounding Confederate statues in Richmond, especially those not on Monument Avenue. The most recent push for change began in 2017 after the events surrounding the infamous Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, but has been slow to manifest.

After Unite The Right, Wickham’s great-great-grandsons, Clayton and Will Wickham, requested the statue in Monroe Park be removed, reaching out to the Monroe Park Conservancy as well as Mayor Stoney. The Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted their letter to Stoney, which said, “We want to be sure you know that, as a plantation owner, Confederate general, and industrialist, General Wickham unapologetically accrued power and wealth through the exploitation of enslaved people.”

Photo by Chelsea Burke, via Facebook

Members of the Monroe Park Conservancy voted to remove the statue, and Stoney’s Monument Avenue Commission considered it, but neither were able to legally complete the task. If Richmonders hadn’t taken the matter into their own hands, they would have had to wait until after July 1st of this year, when a law will be passed that gives local governments in Virginia authority over monuments. 

Among Richmond’s handful of lesser-known Confederate monuments — a list that also includes Matthew Fontaine Maury, AP Hill, and the now-also-deposed Richmond Howitzers Battalion tribute statue — Wickham is particularly elusive. It’s tough to find much about him on the web, but his Wikipedia page (or, if you happen to go to Virginia Tech, this collection of letters) offers some interesting information.

Wickham grew up about half an hour north of Richmond on the Hickory Hill plantation, a large estate compared to most in Virginia and an appendage of the Shirley Plantation owned by Robert E Lee’s mother, Anne Hill Carter Lee. 

His ancestors include one of Virginia’s wealthiest landowners of the 1700s, Robert “King” Carter, named for his “autocratic business methods,” as well as Robert E. Lee, who was Wickham’s first cousin, once removed. 

After graduating from UVA, Wickham worked as a lawyer and was later elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, all while continuing to manage Hickory Hill with his wife. He voted against secession in 1861, but agreed to it and saw a good deal of combat in the Civil War, eventually promoted to brigadier general in the Confederate Army.

He became a railroad developer in Virginia after the Civil War, to varying degrees of success, often hampered by financial problems. A Republican and supporter of Ulysses S. Grant, he returned to the General Assembly in the 1880s before dying (while in office) of heart failure in 1888. 

Picture postcard featuring the Wickham statue in Monroe Park, early 20th century. Via Visual & Vintage Virginia/Facebook

Wickham was many things; a farmer, a slave owner, a high-ranking Confederate general, and an active politician. But he was not all that distinguished, and certainly not anyone you’d remember from history class. There’s not a great argument for having him memorialized, unless your main goal is valorizing the Confederacy. Based on what Gen. Fitzhugh Lee said at the time the statue was put in place in 1891, that it was a “glorious spectacle to see monuments rising in honor of such men,” it seems that was exactly the goal. 

Since Wickham was toppled, three more statues have hit the pavement (or pond). Protesters sank the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park and pulled the Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue earlier this month. Just a few days ago, the Howitzers Battalion monument near VCU’s Monroe Park campus was torn down. Stoney plans to remove the rest after July 1st. Until then, the Richmond Protest Press is tracking the progress using bingo cards.

Top Photo by Chelsea Burke, via Facebook

Opinion: Why is the RPD at War with Richmond?

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At a time when Confederate monuments around the city are coming down, VCU Anthropology professor Amy Rector and Landon Shroder ask why the Richmond Police Department are behaving like an occupying army.

Monuments glorifying colonizers and treasonous men who fought for slavery are coming down all over Richmond — the former Capital of the Confederacy. The Governor promised he would take down Robert E. Lee, while the Mayor promised he would take down the rest. The actual removal process has also received a little help from those on the street.

Yet over the past few days the Richmond Police Department (RPD) HQ on Grace St. has erected new monuments — ones that are uniquely befitting an organization which believes they are at war. The new interim Chief, William “Jody” Blackwell, confirmed this at his presser yesterday when he said the RPD is going to “take our city back… and we’re going to get the city back.”

The huge concrete barriers filled with gravel and dirt earthworks provides an impenetrable wall which cuts Grace Street in half, effectively shutting down a major thoroughfare in the city. Looked at another way: it is a militarized position, organized to provide space for the RPD to defend their area of responsibility since they clearly believe they are under siege. The barriers are not just physically imposing however, they are also intended to send a message to the same community they are sworn to protect. 

This photo was taken by Landon Shroder

Humans have been putting up monuments for 8,000 years for this very reason, to psychologically oppress their foes and to remind the lowest status individuals of their place in society. 

With the fortification of the RPD, the police aren’t just waging warfare with protestors who arrive unarmed seeking to voice a desperate need for change in our system, they are also waging psychological warfare against an entire city. They are signaling that they are bigger, stronger, and can impose their will upon a city that is demanding reform, accountability, and oversight of a police culture that has seemingly gone rogue.

Far from making them look strong, the fortifications at the RPD have instead made them look weak and ineffectual — incapable of exercising authority from a place other than violence.

It is the same idea that raised the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee six stories high in 1890, when Monument Avenue was only a tobacco field. The Lee Monument Association wanted their Lost Cause fiction to be bigger and stronger, using the same tactics of psychological warfare the RPD is using today in Richmond. Nothing has really changed in the past 130 years.

Three weeks ago, after the murder of George Floyd, the racist vein that runs so deeply in all facets of American society was laid murderously bare. So much so it could no longer be ignored, and inch by inch Americans have brought to the surface a reckoning that has been simmering for 400 years. Nowhere is this more relevant than the conversation surrounding the culture of policing, which is outdated at best and villainous at worst. 

This photo was taken by Nils Westergard

Recovering our safety from a “law and order” mindset that disproportionately kills our Black community members, while also reclaiming public space from narratives of oppression, is part of a drive towards truth and, perhaps one day, reconciliation — something that is centuries overdue in America.   

Unfortunately, our city’s institutions have been silent to this reality. The resignation of Chief Will Smith — who proved to be entirely unequipped to lead a city seeking meaningful reforms, account for his officers, or engage positively with peaceful protestors — has done nothing to confront the underlying reality that the lives of our Black community members are disproportionately at risk from interactions with the police.

When those fighting for justice and a more equitable future are chanting “Whose streets? Our streets” and are met with only platitudes from the Mayor and concrete barriers from the RPD, then there can be no “community engagement,” as Mayor Levar Stoney called for at his presser on Tuesday.

This photo was taken by Brian Palmer

This is now evident from the monuments the RPD has erected in their own image. Juxtapose this against the backdrop of a truly transformational moment of trust-building, healing, and reconciliation happening only a few blocks away at the monument to Robert E. Lee. 

For three weeks this Confederate statue and monument to white supremacy has become a living piece of art, a place of pilgrimage, and a reclaimed space for all those in Richmond who were excluded from public life. Black citizens who have lived in Virginia their entire lives are now visiting the statue for the first time, standing on its steps, and taking photos with their fists in the air to commemorate this moment in our shared history.

And for the first time in this statue’s history, it truly means something to everyone. There is a deeper meaning in this than there ever was for a six-story tall racist statue dominating the city’s skyline. 

Yet across town, the RPD has put up its own monument to militarization, just like this city’s forebears, who were looking to signal, intimidate, and suppress a portion of their population. When the interim chief uses the phrase “take this city back” how else are we supposed to interpret this? Especially when egregious police violence has been the default setting of the RPD these last few weeks.

But there is another way: the RPD could take note of what is happening at Robert E. Lee and work towards meaningful de-escalation, starting with removing their fortifications and not treating the city like they are an invading army and its citizens the enemy. 

The path is clear. It is time for the RPD, like other police forces nationally, to accept that reforms are coming one way or another. Taking down monuments and barriers will not arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor or ease the fears of Black mothers when their children leave the house. But it might lead us in a new direction: towards the reality that our city really does belong to all people. There is no place in Richmond for police barricades or shrines to white supremacy — especially since the distance between those two is one of the shortest distances in American history. 

This piece was co-authored by Amy Rector, Associate Professor of Anthropology at VCU and Landon Shroder, a communications and foreign policy professional specializing in the Middle East.

Third Confederate Monument in Richmond Torn Down

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Another Confederate monument bites the dust, as protesters on Tuesday night pulled down a statue in Monroe Park paying tribute to Confederate Howitzers.

Demonstrators removed a statue honoring Confederate soldiers Tuesday night after marching for hours in the rain through downtown Richmond.

More than 150 protesters gathered in the park space near Virginia Commonwealth University at 11 p.m. Many cheered as the Howitzer Monument was pulled from its stone foundation with rope.

The statue, which was unveiled in 1892, depicts a soldier holding a device used to clean a cannon before firing. It pays tribute to the service of the Richmond Howitzers Battalion, which was active from 1861 to 1865.

Protesters began marching in Monroe Park near the VCU campus at 8:30 p.m. and moved toward the Grace Street police headquarters, where on Monday night police used non-lethal explosives and chemical agents to disperse crowds. Officers did not use those tactics Tuesday as demonstrators passed the building, instead standing in tight formations and blocking entrances to the headquarters.

The Howitzers statue as it appeared before Tuesday night. Photo by Andrew Ringle, The Commonwealth Times.

Demonstrators gathered outside of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s downtown Richmond apartment around 10 p.m. and chanted “out of your house, into the streets.”

The protests began hours after Richmond Police Chief William Smith resigned at Stoney’s request, following days of clashes between police and protesters. Capt.William “Jody” Blackwell was appointed interim police chief.

The Howitzer statue was the fourth monument to be torn down by Richmond protesters. The Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park, a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham in Monroe Park, and a Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue have all been removed from their pedestals.

A memorial for fallen police officers was removed by the city from Byrd Park to protect it from vandalism.

VCU bought the triangle-shaped green area where the Howitzer statue stood from the City of Richmond in 1989. The purchase made the land and statue state property. Under the transfer’s conditions, VCU maintained the area outside of the W. E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts and needed the city’s consent to remove or relocate the statue. The university audited Confederate symbols on its campus in 2017 after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville but said it needed the city’s approval to remove the Confederate Howitzer statue.

Photo by Andrew Ringle, The Commonwealth Times.

University spokesperson Mike Porter said the university was working with the city to address the monument.

“VCU is working with the City of Richmond to include this Confederate relic in the city’s recent efforts to address monuments throughout the city,” Porter said in an email on Monday.

Written by Eduardo Acevedo, Hannah Eason, and Andrew Ringle, The Commonwealth Times, via VCU Capital News Service. Top Photo by Andrew Ringle, The Commonwealth Times.

Op-Ed: What Happens Now? Monument Avenue’s Empty Pedestals

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Monument Avenue’s Confederate monuments are slated for removal, but landscape architect Annie Lynch raises a more fundamental question: when they are gone, what will we do with their pedestals?

An empty pedestal signals either an ending or a beginning.

Earlier this month, Governor Ralph Northam announced that the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee that presides over Monument Avenue will be removed. In his announcement, the Governor acknowledged that the future location of Lee’s statue will be the subject of community engagement efforts and public debate in the coming months. While the removal is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits, the state government continues to work toward the eventual removal of the statue. The fate of Lee’s vacated pedestal, however, was not addressed.

Recognizing that pedestals serve as city infrastructure is central to appreciating how Confederate monuments function in public space. Lee’s massive, sculpted base cannot be functionally distinguished from the form of the traffic roundabout; this merger is designed to blur the extent of the monument and cement this figure as immovable, like the road itself. 

Drivers trying to access downtown Richmond or the interstate are funneled around Lee’s imposing pedestal, a design that ensures that the monument effectively dictates the city’s movement. As essential transportation infrastructure, citizens are unable to avoid, challenge, or change the monument and, by association, its ideology. 

Photo by Creative Dog Media, via Instagram

We must recognize that the removal of the statue does not constitute the removal of the monument. An empty pedestal serves only to remind us that the figurative statue is but one component of a larger spatial system, designed to elevate a single historic narrative and obscure those that would counter it. 

On Monument Avenue, to stop at the removal of the monument figure may be missing an opportunity to refute the terms set by those designers, planners, and government agents who used these monuments to reinforce racial terror. Repopulating emptied pedestals with figures worthy of memorialization can address the underrepresentation of the city’s Black leaders in public space; the obvious merits of this approach have led to its adoption in many Southern cities.

Deconstructing the pedestal, however, offers a more thorough rebuke of the Confederate project. After the pedestal’s deconstruction, many may exclaim in frustration: “But the removal is not complete; the traffic circle remains!” Indeed, if we see the remaining circular patch of grass designed to support Lee’s monument as a critical component of a nefarious city-planning strategy, our site of work must expand to include the whole of Richmond.

Beginning with the deconstruction of the pedestal, the city could author an expansive definition of monumentality and memorialization that critiques broad historical narratives, honors and amplifies local forms of memory practice, and elevates the memorial qualities of lived, everyday experience.  Strategies that set a precedent for an expanded monumentality can be found in some of Richmond’s completed and ongoing projects. 

The excavation of Lumpkin’s Slave Jail in Shockoe Bottom, begun in 2005, serves as a particularly apt example of how erasure can be countered through the deconstruction of urban infrastructure. Richmond’s Slave Trail also recovers the geography of the city’s suppressed history through the creation of a network of sites that, together, constitute a living memorial to the enslaved persons brought to the nation’s largest slave port. These methods of deconstruction, recovery, and dispersal could be leveraged in Richmond’s historically Black communities such as Jackson Ward, Oregon Hill, and Carver Residential, many of which have been severely harmed by Richmond’s recent infrastructure projects.

Widespread excavations that rely on community involvement and landscape design could build off of the existing network of discovery, remembrance, and celebration of Black life in Richmond. Monument Avenue, once stripped of its pedestals, could be reconstructed to play a role in these efforts, as a site for display of excavated soil and artifacts from sites throughout the city.  

Photo by Creative Dog Media, via Instagram

For decades, the design and planning disciplines have been complicit in constructing the physical environment of racism. The removal of Confederate monuments, redefined as a city-wide project, calls upon designers and planners to work with Black communities to create a new memorial landscape that excavates obliterated spaces, and with them silenced histories.

The strategy I outline seizes upon the city and state’s renewed sense of urgency regarding Confederate monument removal and leverages it towards a more fundamental reimagining of the city’s infrastructure of memory. How might we begin to rewrite the history of Richmond without the use of pedestals and plaques? As we celebrate the remarkable progress the removal of Monument Avenue’s Confederate statues represents, we must challenge ourselves to understand this moment as only the beginning.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect editorial policy.

Top Photo by Creative Dog Media, via Instagram