A controversial Confederate statue in Alexandria remains standing despite the city council's unanimous vote to take it down a year ago.
Thousands of people drive by the “Appomatox” Confederate soldier statue which stands some 20-feet high in the middle of the intersection of Washington and Prince Streets.
The soldier has a pensive look on his face cast downward toward the south. At the statue’s base, the names of Alexandrians who died fighting for the Confederacy are list. It was put up in 1889, 24 years after the Civil War ended.
“It harkens back to the time of Jim Crow laws,” said Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg.
She and the City Council voted unanimously in September of 2016 to move the statue. They want to put in a museum sitting right on the same corner.
20-ft Confederate soldier statue stands even thou @AlexandriaVAGov voted last yr to move it; Mayor hopes to overcome 1890 state law @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/jGM5TEBycu
— Peggy Fox (@PeggyTV) August 17, 2017
But a 1890 law passed specifically for this statute, prevent the Alexandria City Council from moving it without permission from the legislature.
In the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, and the Governor’s call to remove Confederate Statutes, Mayor Silberberg is hopeful the legislature will give the city permission to move the Appomatox.
