Statues of Confederate Civil War Generals May Be Removed | NOW

The highest court in the US state of Virginia has ruled that the city of Charlottesville may remove the statues of two controversial generals from the American Civil War. The persistent argument over the pictures claimed the life of a woman.

During a rally of nationalists and neo-Nazis in August 2017 to enforce the images, one of these demonstrators hit a group of opponents, leaving one dead and several seriously injured among the counter-demonstrators.

Then-President Donald Trump responded to the incident by saying there were “good people” on both sides, a comment that caused a stir.

A lower court had agreed with a group of Charlottesville citizens and ruled that the monuments to Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson could remain. But in the end, the city council, which no longer considers the images to be appropriate, succeeded. The city government has been headed by Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who does not belong to any political party, since 2018. She is a so-called independent.

Generals fought in the American Civil War for Confederate states that wanted to preserve slavery. Critics see the images as a tribute to violent racist figures.