RICHMOND, Va. -- The debate over the fate of the statue to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Richmond’s famed Monument Avenue returns to a courtroom Monday.
A trial will address the issue of whether the 130-year-old state-owned statue can legally be removed.
In June, Gov. Ralph Northam announced plans to take down the statue, which is on state-owned property within the city.
Some people who live on Monument Avenue filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the removal, claiming it would reduce their property values.
However, the state has asked the judge to dismiss that lawsuit.
The New York Times recently ranked the Lee monument, in its current form, as the most influential work of American protest art since World War II.
The monument has been covered in graffiti since early June when protests and social unrest gripped Richmond, and the nation, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
