The Patriot Post® · Charlottesville Cancels Lee, Jackson, and More

Four years after the infamous Charlottesville riot, provoked by that city’s shortsighted decision to remove the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, workers this weekend took down the statues of Lee and General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Then, without public notice, city workers also removed a third statue, this one depicting famed American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, as well as the party’s Shoshone guide and interpreter, Sacagawea. This removal followed a 20-minute “emergency” meeting of the city council.

Unsurprisingly, the council voted unanimously to cancel another piece of public art targeted by left-wing activists. Almost as if it had been planned well ahead of time, within minutes after the council’s vote, a city work crew — the same group that earlier had dismantled equestrian statues of Generals Lee and Jackson — arrived with ropes, a crane, and pry bars to wrench the artwork off the plinth where it had stood on Charlottesville’s West Main Street.

Lewis was of particular significance to the history of Charlottesville, as he was born in Albemarle County, wherein the independent city of Charlottesville is located. He was commissioned by Charlottesville’s most famous resident and the founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson.

This quick and stealthy removal of the Lewis and Clark statue likely runs in violation of sunshine laws, as it would appear that the general public had no opportunity to weigh in on the decision. This was the council bowing to and promoting the nefarious narrative of leftist activists and their woke iconoclastic demands, as one of the excuses given for the removal of Lewis and Clark was that it depicted Sacagawea in a crouched position, nearer to the ground than the upright explorers. The bogus narrative offered by the Left is that she was being depicted in a subservient state when in fact this is precisely the position one would expect of a guide or a tracker.

No decision has been made as to what will become of the Lewis and Clark statue, but one thing’s for certain: This event will go down as a shameful chapter in the history of Charlottesville, a chapter wherein city leaders caved to the infantile demands and the rank historical ignorance of the woke Left.