CHARLOTTESVILLE — Workers used a crane to remove a Confederate statue from its pedestal Saturday morning and lift an enormous weight from a community still scarred by the racist violence of 2017’s Unite the Right rally.
Crowds cheered behind metal barricades as the bronze figure of a Confederate soldier known as “At Ready” was taken down after 111 years outside a county courthouse in this historic university city.
Streets that had surged with white supremacists three years ago now rang with music and happy cheers. Families brought small children in blue Union Civil War caps. People wearing Black Lives Matter shirts danced as a student radio station played Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Sly and the Family Stone. Continue reading.