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Statue Unveiling
From the ground looking up of the statue during its unveiling, this monument was depicted after a Civil War General and also slave owner named Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia. Constructed by sculptor Antonin Mercie. Newspaper accounts indicate that 10,000 people helped pull four wagons with the pieces of the monument to be constructed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee_Monument_(Richmond,_Virginia) -
Sundown Towns
"After slavery was abolished and African Americans began to move from the places they'd been forced to live in, white communities began to revolt. They ran Black people out of their cities or counties under threat of violence or death, and enacted laws to keep them out." https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2020/09/sundown-towns-in-indiana-how-a-legacy-of-whites-only-towns-rose-and-continues-to-affect-today/ -
Slavery Was Gone But Jim Crow Was Alive
Black Americans who grew up in the south were denied access to the same opportunities of whites. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/30/upshot/evidence-that-the-jim-crow-era-endures-for-older-black-voters-in-the-south-.html -
Rodney King Riots
Rodney King led police on a high speed chase through Los Angeles, CA in March of 1991. When police caught up to him police kicked and beat him with batons for approximately 15 minutes and it was all filmed. When the acquittals of the officers were announced in April of 1992, angry chaos unloaded on the city. https://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/524744989/when-la-erupted-in-anger-a-look-back-at-the-rodney-king-riots -
Monument Covered in Graffiti
From the ground looking up at the 60 foot statue after it was covered in graffiti after a protest for George Floyd. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee_Monument_(Richmond,_Virginia) -
Close Up of Graffiti
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Virginia Court to Hear Challenges to Removal of Robert E. Lee Statue
Top view. Richmond Virginia. "This monument to Virginia's racist history has held a place of honor in Richmond for too long. The Lee statue does not represent the ideals Virginians live by today and the inclusive community that we strive to be and it is time to bring it down." Attorney General Mark Herring https://time.com/6071720/virginia-robert-e-lee-statue/