"Memorializing Men of the Lost Cause: Public Opinion of Confederate Monuments in Virginia 1900-Present"
Even prior to the events that would happen in Charlottesville in August of 2017, there had been questions as to what should or should not be done with Confederate monuments in Richmond. Mayor Levar Stoney created the Monument Avenue Commission to examine if these monuments should be removed or relocated. It was decided that the Jefferson Davis monument should be removed as it is the most Lost Cause focused and Jefferson Davis did not have anything to do with Virginia other than being the president of the Confederacy.
The commission opened a public forum for people from the community to voice their opinions about what to do with the monuments. Below is a few of the opinions given by the public. Links are provided for further research into the communities opinions as well as other news articles and videos.
Graph of public opinion on what should be done with Confederate Monuments within Richmond. The report can be found HERE to read it in its entirety.
There is a mix of opinions when it comes to the removal of Confederate Statues in the South. There are those that would like to have them stay. Confederate groups even held rallies in Richmond to respond to the Commissions recommendation to remove the Jefferson Davis Statue along Monument Ave. The Republican Standard reported about it HERE.
The Monument Avenue Commission created an online website that allowed the people of the Richmond community to give their input into what they believed should or should not be done with many Confederate Statue within the city.
From October of 2017 to May of 2018 took in thousands of comments online and through the mail with many voicing their opinions. HERE you can find all of the online comments made by the public sorted by each month.