Mayor Gray Discusses Removal of Statues
Following the violence of the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray accelerated the announcement of his plan this week to remove two Confederate statues from the city’s historic courthouse square.
“I am taking action to relocate the Confederate statues at the Historic Courthouse,” Gray said in a statement. “We have thoroughly examined this issue, and heard from many of our citizens.”
Gray said that he would ask the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for its support on the city’s petition to the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission to relocate the statues of John Hunt Morgan and John Breckinridge, a required next step in the process. On Tuesday, the Council voted 15-0 to proceed on Gray's call to remove the statues and formally petition the commission. Gray initially called for the statues to be moved to Veteran's Park, but a new site for the statues has not yet been officially determined. A final Council vote on the issue is expected on Thursday.
Gray’s announcement attracted national coverage from multiple media outlets, including CNN and the New York Times, as officials across the country reacted to the tragic events that unfolded surrounding a protest by white nationalist groups in Charlottesville over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. One woman was killed when a car was driven into a crowd of counterprotesters.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Gray stated, “Today's events in Virginia remind us that we must bring our country together by condemning violence, white supremacists and Nazi hate groups. … We cannot let them define our future.”