Virginia is set to remove Richmond’s Lee statue on Wednesday

By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, is about to be taken down as a symbol of racial injustice. Wednesday’s planned removal comes more than 130 years after the monument was erected to honor the South’s top military commander in the Civil War. While many other Confederate symbols across the South have been removed without public announcements, Gov. Ralph Northam’s office is expecting a multitude and plans to livestream the event. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy for much of the Civil War, and the Lee statue became an epicenter of protests last year against police brutality and racism.