F%$# Your Feelings

Bad man go bye-bye

The Robert E Lee statue has been removed from Richmond, Virginia.

I'm sure that a lot of people, racists ones, will complain about the erasure of their history or heritage, but people of good conscience need to tell these snowflakes to get over it.

Let me repeat, "F%$# your feelings."

For 131 years it loomed over Richmond, Virginia, once the capital of America’s slave-owning south, sending a chilling message about the resilience of white supremacy to generations that passed beneath.

But at 8.55am on Wednesday, daylight reappeared between a giant statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee and its granite pedestal, now covered with Black Lives Matter graffiti. In warm sunshine the towering sculpture was hoisted by work crews and lowered to the ground amid cheers, songs and whoops from a watching crowd.

………

“It’s a beautiful day for democracy,” said a 47-year-old man who gave his name as Rig and carried a monochrome version of the Stars and Stripes that bore the words “Black Lives Matter” and a raised fist.

“It’s time for us to be honest about our history. Germany has zero statues of Hitler or Rommel. They learned the lesson and we have to learn the lesson: we cannot coddle white supremacy in this country.”

………

For more than a century the statue was a constant reminder to Richmond’s Black residents of generational slavery. Four years ago Mitch Landrieu, then the mayor of New Orleans, where another Lee statue was removed in 2017, wondered what it would be like for African American parents to explain to their daughter why Lee stood atop their city. “Can you look into that young girl’s eyes and convince her that Robert E Lee is there to encourage her?” he asked. “Do you think she will feel inspired and hopeful by that story?”

………

Three other huge Confederate statues on Monument Avenue were removed last summer and Northam ordered that Lee should meet the same fate, citing the pain felt across the country over the death of Floyd. His plans were tied up in litigation until the supreme court of Virginia cleared the way last week.

………

Just before 9am, a construction worker who strapped harnesses around Lee and his horse lifted his arms in the air and counted down: “Three, two, one!” There were excited shouts from hundreds of people watching, with little sign of counterprotests. Some chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” and sang, “Hey hey hey, goodbye!”

………

Goad Gatsby, who lives close by and has been arrested and teargassed at protests here, said: “This was a statue created to attract defenders of white supremacy. It represented that the descendants of plantation owners are still the ones in p.ower. The fact it’s removed: this neighbourhood is going to be safer, our world is going to be safer.”

………

Workers sawed off the torso of Lee and loaded it on to a flatbed truck. The statue pieces will be hauled to an undisclosed state-owned facility until a decision is made about its final location. The pedestal will remain for now, although workers are expected to remove decorative plaques and extricate a time capsule on Thursday.

Here's a suggestion, melt it down and erect a statue to Nat Turner, who led a slave revolt in 1831.  Or, if you wanted to be a bit less confrontational, some prominent civil rights activists from the Commonwealth.

Anything is better than keeping the Robert E. Lee statue around.  He was a slave owner, oath breaker, and a hypocrite.