Measures allow white supremacists, ANTIFA sufficient time to wreak havoc
Liberals are heralding movement in Richmond on bills to allow localities to move or get rid of Confederate monuments, but the law – as written – though it has some safeguards such as requiring local governments to hold a hearing could make Virginia open season for radicals – Left and Right.
According to this article on the WHSV TV web site: Here is the current text of § 15.2-1812 of the Code of Virginia:
A locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials for any war or conflict, or for any engagement of such war or conflict, to include the following monuments or memorials: Algonquin (1622), French and Indian (1754-1763), Revolutionary (1775-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Mexican (1846-1848), Confederate or Union monuments or memorials of the War Between the States (1861-1865), Spanish-American (1898), World War I (1917-1918), World War II (1941-1945), Korean (1950-1953), Vietnam (1965-1973), Operation Desert Shield-Desert Storm (1990-1991), Global War on Terrorism (2000- ), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001- ), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003- ). If such are erected, it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected, or to prevent its citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation and care of same. For purposes of this section, “disturb or interfere with” includes removal of, damaging or defacing monuments or memorials, or, in the case of the War Between the States, the placement of Union markings or monuments on previously designated Confederate memorials or the placement of Confederate markings or monuments on previously designated Union memorials.
If Senate Bill 183 becomes law, the text would read as follows:
A locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials for any war or conflict, or for any engagement of such war or conflict, to include the following monuments or memorials: Algonquin (1622), French and Indian (1754-1763), Revolutionary (1775-1783), War of 1812 (1812-1815), Mexican (1846-1848), Confederate or Union monuments or memorials of the War Between the States (1861-1865), Spanish-American (1898), World War I (1917-1918), World War II (1941-1945), Korean (1950-1953), Vietnam (1965-1973), Operation Desert Shield-Desert Storm (1990-1991), Global War on Terrorism (2000- ), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001- ), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003- ). A locality may remove, relocate, or alter any such monument or memorial, regardless of when erected.
In my mind, this means any radical group that decides a monument to Gen. George Washington is “racist” since he owned slaves, and if they exert enough pressure on a local town or city council or county supervisor board, that local government can move it!
Would the legislation allow Republicans to get the statue of segregationist Harry Byrd off the Capitol grounds in Richmond, or, since that was not a “war monument,” it can stay?
According to WHSV, “the Senate’s bill imposes several hurdles not included in the House version that a local government must take before removing a monument. Under the measure, local leaders must first pass a resolution stating its intention to remove the monument, then request a report from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources with background about the person depicted and the circumstances under which the monument was established.
“The locality would then have to make that report public and then hold a public hearing before it could vote. A decision to remove a monument would require a 2/3 vote or could be sent to voters for a referendum.
“Under both the House and Senate bills, the locality would have to offer the monument to a “museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield” for a period of 30 days, though both measures say the local government has the ‘sole authority’ to determine its final disposition.”
Yikes! This means the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors would tie up its agenda for weeks if not months to hear pros and cons about moving the statue on the courthouse grounds in Leesburg And, requiring a referendum of voters!
God Help Us. Talk about giving enough time for the Klan or neo-Nazi groups to get organized and form protests – and then bring the ANTIFA radicals in to confront them.
Like a lot of legislation coming out of Richmond, it’s written by politicians who have never served on a local governing body – another unfunded mandate, too. The cost of removing the Robert E. Lee statue on an obelisk in New Orleans cost the city $2.1 million – -enough to train and hire hundreds of unemployed black youth.
So, with SB 183, we may see Charlottesville all over again.
Since Republicans seem incapable of stopping this legislation, as there is no equivalent opposition campaign like there was to defeat gun legislation in Richmond this past week, I would suggest that Democrats make some amendments to narrow the bill to cover Confederate generals and figures ONLY.
And, don’t require municipalities to go through this kind of rigmarole
But the best solution is to leave well enough alone. Allow alternative memorials to be erected to honor the victims of the Confederacy (i.e. slaves and explain the monument in context to passersby).
Why create more Charlottesvilles?. As it says in Proverbs, “He who troubles his house shall inherit the wind” and Virginia Democrats have become real pot stirring troublemakers.
