Opinion: Richmond’s Monument Avenue: From historic statues to symbolic silence

My wife and I would visit Richmond often when she was in college.

It was a short drive from her school, and the city provided us with a chance to get to know one another better. Its backdrop was culture, fun things to do, restaurants, and what seemed to be a never-ending number of places where we could peer back into our nation’s both celebrated and troubled past.

I can remember walking along Monument Avenue at night, looking at the illuminated statues, and the gorgeous homes that lined the boulevard. I viewed these monuments, in what had been the capital city of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, not as something glorious or objects to celebrate but as a reminder of how the Civil War tore the country apart and as a reminder of the stain of slavery left on our nation.

The statues were constant reminders of our past, and reminders not to repeat the same mistakes again.

The statues, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and placed there in the late 19th century during reconciliation, are now a memory. Black Lives Matter protesters defaced them in 2020, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney removed them the next year, placing them in a statue graveyard (location undisclosed) and transferring their ownership from the people to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.

He couldn’t move them to a national park or battlefield, like the ones we have here in Fredericksburg or Manassas. He sent them away from public view to send a message: This history won’t be tolerated in this city or anywhere else.

Now, the same people who celebrated their removal say they’re disappointed the city has not replaced the statues with something as pleasing. In fact, all that’s there now is some mulch, plants, and trees—a far cry from the historical significance of what once stood.

“I’m not sure I can even put into words what I see other than disappointment. There’s nothing there that has any meaning or purpose,” Caroline Bowers, who participated in the 2020 rallies and marches told WTVR-TV. “I was hoping for maybe a park-like setting where you could come and you could sit and you could kind of feel and reminisce what happened here.”

Stoney told the TV station he has no plan to replace the statutes and will instead divert city funds to other parts of the city. The Democrat hopes to be Virginia’s next governor. He is challenging  Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D) for their party’s nomination in 2025.

People from across the U.S. went to what was the Confederacy’s capital to see the statues and learn the history of the Civil War. Now, the city is said to have the appearance of a communist Democratic Republic.

“Only Richmond could take one of its premier tourist attractions and the only street in America that was on the National Register of Historic Places… and turn it into a scene from East Germany,” one user posted to WTVR’s Facebook page.

“Those who voted for those statues to be taken down, couldn’t see past their hatred to even consider what they might put as a replacement. They were just so anxious to get them down, and for all of those folks who voted to take them down, I sure hope you feel good and you sleep better at night. Ignorance at its finest,” wrote another.

Residents like Bowers, who cheered when the historic monuments were defaced and removed, allowed themselves to be hoodwinked, played, and taken advantage of. Three years later, her neighborhood is no better off, and tourists no longer have a reason to visit the place history buffs flocked to and authors wrote about.

I’ve often heard, “The left likes to tear down because it’s easy. It doesn’t like to build anything, because that’s hard.”

This must be what they mean.

Uriah Kiser is the founder and publisher of Potomac Local News.