CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The future of a Charlottesville Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue now lies in the hands of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
The statue was officially removed in July 2021 following community contention, legal battles and a public push that dates back to 2016.
Executive Director Andrea Douglas said there is a future for the statue, just in a different form. The project will begin in 2022.
"It's a moral decision for us. We don't want to take our trauma and move it to another community," Douglas said. "We are going to transform our trauma into something creative, something beautiful, that is important, and that is highly representative of the ideals of Charlottesville."
Douglas also added that they’re hoping for the community’s input throughout the process.
"It's the community that's going to decide what that object will look like, and whatever form it takes. We're not describing or prescribing any of this; we're just facilitating it."
Although the statue will no longer carry the same likeness of Robert E. Lee, local activist Jalane Schmidt said the intent isn't to erase history.
"History and memory are two different things. We're not forgetting history. What we're doing is re-framing it,” she said.
The projected overall cost of the project is $1.1 million from start to finish, according to Douglas, who said they've already raised $590,000 from donors.