King George County votes to move Confederate monument

KING GEORGE (AP) The Board of Supervisors in Virginia’s King George County has voted to move a monument that honors Confederate soldiers.

The Free Lance-Star reported Nov. 24 that the monument currently sits on the lawn of the county courthouse. The supervisors are yet to decide where they monument will be moved.

This week’s 3 to 2 vote by the board was applauded by the local chapter of the NAACP. Its members have been been asking the county to move the obelisk from public property for more than 18 months.

“The Confederacy was a racial institution,” Robert Ashton, NAACP vice president, told the supervisors on Nov. 23. “Therefore any statue or monument honoring the Confederacy endorses racism.”

But other King George residents were opposed to moving the monument.

“It saddens me to see the history of this country erased,” resident Steve Davis said.

Davis added that modern-day residents won’t be able to teach about injustices to the Black community if removes such historical objects.

“How can we find our way in the future if we don’t know where we’ve come from?” Davis said.

The 3 to 2 vote reflected the divisive nature of an issue that’s been debated in communities across the nation following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody last year.