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THE INDEPENDENT PRESS OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY 2019, 2020 Newspaper Pacemaker Winner
VOL. 63, NO. 7 OCTOBER 6, 2021
‘LOST CAUSE’
The Robert E. Lee monument was removed on Sept. 8 by the Virginia Department of General Services after more than a year of legal entanglements. The public was able to view the removal. On Sept. 29, Monument Avenue residents filed a petition to rehear the case. Photos by Jon Mirador
Monument Avenue residents call for rehearing of Lee statue removal case in the summer of 2020 and renamed it Marcus-David Peters Circle, in honor of a VCU alumnus who was shot and killed by a Richmond police officer while experiencing ELEN MARIE TAYLOR AND OTHER MONUMENT a mental health crisis on Interstate 95. Avenue residents submitted a petition A fence was erected around Marcus-Dato the Supreme Court of Virginia to vid Peters Circle on Jan. 25 by the Virginia request a rehearing of the Robert E. Lee Department of General Services in anstatue removal case. ticipation of the statue’s removal, accordOne street and one The statue was removed on Sept. 8 and ing to a release from DGS that morning. the petition was filed on Sept. 29, less than At the time, a date had not yet been set neighborhood doesn’t four weeks after the removal. for Lee’s removal. have the power to Patrick McSweeney is the lawyer for The fence is still standing as of Oct. 5. decide for a whole Helen Marie Taylor and other plainThere is currently no update on when the tiffs, who include John-Lawrence Smith, fence will be removed, despite the statue’s group of people.” Janet Heltzel, George D. Hostetler and absence, according to DGS spokesperson Madison Turner, Evan Morgan Massey. All made efforts Dena Potter. senior health, physical and to block the statue’s removal. A majority Alena Yarmosky, senior communications exercise science student of the plaintiffs are residents of Monuadvisor for Northam, referred to the petiment Avenue, according to the Supreme tion as “a lost cause,” in an email. Court of Virginia’s decision to remove The Virginia Supreme Court backed its the statue. Gov. Ralph Northam stated the reso- decision regarding the monument’s removPart of McSweeney’s argument lies on lution could not be enforced, because the al on six different recent events, including: the 1889 Joint Resolution, which states that commonwealth cannot be forced “to engage the establishment of Juneteenth as a holiday, the Commonwealth of Virginia must hold in expression with which it disagrees.” Northam’s removal of the Lee and Stonethe Lee monument and the area around it Community members reclaimed the area wall Jackson holiday from Martin Luther “perpetually sacred.” around the former site of the monument King Jr. Day, the removal of a Lee bust from KATHARINE DEROSA News Editor
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“The Court failed to apply its own precedent that specifically held that the joint resolution in that case was enforceable,” McSweeney stated in the petition.
the Virginia Capitol’s Old House Chamber and action from protesters to remove Confederate monuments themselves. “Every branch of government has spoken — including a unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court — in support of a more inclusive, just Virginia,” Yarmosky stated. “It’s time to move on.” Senior health, physical and exercise science major Madison Turner said she agrees with the court’s decision to remove the statue, since Richmond residents “obviously” didn’t want the monument to remain in place. “One street and one neighborhood doesn’t have the power to decide for a whole group of people,” Turner said. Turner said she witnessed Marcus-David Peters Circle used for cookouts. She thinks the area could be used as a community space to “uplift” Black voices and businesses. “It should be like a family place, and like rewrite history so it’s not all a negative connotation,” Turner said. “Make it something happy.”
COURT ANNOUNCES UPCOMING DATES FOR DELTA CHI FRATERNITY BROTHERS
See DELTA CHI on page 3
VCU freshman Adam Oakes was found dead on Feb. 27 at a West Clay Street residence after attending Delta Chi fraternity event. Photo by Wessam Hazaymeh