Confederate statues in Charlottesville are protected from removal by state law, a Virginia judge has ruled. A state law prohibits cities and towns from removing war monuments without the permission of state government, and that protection extends to these monuments to a war against the United States of America, Judge Richard Moore said.
Moore said he isn’t guaranteeing the statues will win, but his language in defending his decision is suspect.
Moore wrote that “While some people obviously see Lee and Jackson as symbols of white supremacy,”—because they damn well are—“others see them as brilliant military tacticians or complex leaders in a difficult time.” Shades of “very fine people,” but also, traitor-leaders of a rebellion against the United States of America.
“ ... and do not think of white supremacy at all and certainly do not believe in, accept, or believe in such.” Yeah, no, you don’t get to be like “I am celebrating people who led a war to preserve slavery but it’s not about white supremacy.” You just don’t. It is always a false claim, and anyone who accepts it as real needs to take a seat.
“In either event, the statues to them under the undisputed facts of this case still are monuments and memorials to them, as veterans of the Civil War.” So Virginia’s law protecting war monuments applies to armies that made war against the U.S. That may be information that the very same neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville would be interested to know.