Spawned in part by opposition to Charlottesville’s removal of the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in a city park, now named Emancipation Park, Jason Kessler’s now infamous Unite the Right protest became a violent rallying cry for white nationalists, militia groups, and other anti-black and anti-Semitic extremists from around the country.
Instead of winning over local governments to maintain Confederate monuments, the rally facilitated the prompt removal of these vestiges of the Confederacy in cities around the country, in part to prevent white nationalist groups from having a base to commit more atrocities.
Baltimore, for instance, began their swift removal of four statues at midnight last Wednesday and concluded at about 5:30 am to a small crowd of supporters. And the University of Texas at Austin also removed four statues tied to the Confederacy this week, adding to the list of places that have deemed the statues insensitive.
The New York Times has compiled a list and mapped all the cities that have already removed, or plan to remove, monuments to a Confederate government that fought to maintain the inhumane enslavement of African-Americans.
Here are just some of the major cities where monuments have been removed:
Los Angeles
San Diego
Louis
Louisville
Austin, Texas
New Orleans
Franklin, Ohio
Brooklyn
Frederick, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland
Durham, North Carolina
Gainesville, Florida
Orlando, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
A map, including cities where monument removal is proposed but they have not yet been removed, is available here.
