Thread by @socialistdogmom

the petition to remove this piece of confederate trash from the grounds of the albemarle county courthouse will be presented to the board of visitors during public comment tonight. it’s not too late to sign!
(link in the embedded thread)

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1049852342508474368

i hauled ass over to the county office building from another meeting to make it here for 6:00 public comment and we’re just now, 12 minutes late, coming to order. for shame.

before adopting the final agenda, diantha mckeel added to the end of the meeting a discussion about a state bill introduced by dave toscano having to do with the statues 👀

diantha mckeel reading a statement from governor northam about the importance of the media “because of what you do, our democracy is stronger.”
northam subtweeting trump, i guess.

nancy switched meetings, too! she’s the first public commenter — advocating for an emergency assistance fund in the county so people with sudden unexpected expenses don’t lose their housing.

next commenter is the director of the library (i love the library!)
the library is one of the local bodies that participated in last summer’s pilgrimage to take dirt from a lynching site in the county to montgomery, AL
c-ville.com/charlottesvill…

a heartbreaking series of public comments from senior citizens pleading for accessible, affordable housing. a large contingent of folks here from IMPACT
impactcville.com

the petition is being presented! you can still sign the here —

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1049852353829097474?s=21

the statue of ‘johnny reb,’ an unnamed confederate soldier stands guard outside the albemarle county courthouse, a place where we should all be equal, where justice should be neutral.
“there is nothing neutral about confederate imagery.”

the commenter says he understands that laws are what they are, “but your constituents need to know where you stand” and urges them to include removal of the statue in their legislative packet.

next speaker echoes the call to include removing the statue in thelegislatove packet. he also urges the board to reconsider their policy on public use of the building & grounds — it’s a public building & residents should be allowed to peacefully assemble here.

reverend don gathers encourages the board to “do he right thing” and “find the wherewithal to say ‘oppression is wrong.’”
he says all they have to do to cement their legacy, to send a message about where they stand, is ask the legislature to take action.

that concludes public comment! gonna see if that other meeting is still going on back at the library... then back here after that for the mystery agenda item diantha added to the end of tonight’s BOS agenda at the top of the meeting.

board member liz palmer says they’d previously discussed not including the statue issue in the legislative packet as it is an inefficient use of the limited number of bills that can be accommodated.

don’t worry, we’re watching a powerpoint

liz palmer nervously asks the presenter what the current legal status is with the ongoing statue case in the city, specifically whether the judge has ruled that individual city councilors can be held liable.

diantha mckeel says “i can’t afford to be held personally liable!”
many board members have a lot of questions about their personal legal liability when it comes to any vote on the matter.

diantha reminds the other board members that they all took an oath to uphold the state constitution and all the laws.

i’m so fucking sick of this conversation. just tear it down.

liz palmer says “it’s the same legislature,” so why would we expect any different outcome?

norman dill says “it’s highly unlikely we will get the law changed” to take the statue down, but there is value in showing the community that they’d like to.

ned gallaway says the swell of community engagement on the issue may change the political calculation in the statehouse - it’s possible the outcome would be different this time.

rick randolph pleading for incremental change - ask for permission to contextualize, remove language about removal “and hope that your wave arrives in the future”

rick randolph, student of history, offers us this take on germany: “if you try to deny an element of your history, it has a way of coming back” - he says germans “weren’t allowed to talk about” history.

wow if only there had been more statues of hitler, AFD would be wrecked.

gallaway says he does want it in the legislative packet. mckeel emphasizes the importance of asking for local control.
(their legislative work session is dec 4)

randolph again saying the language about removal has to come out: “when you say removal, that’s a red flag.”

normal dill said in terms of contextualization, one way to do that would be to tell the story of the statue - who said what at its dedication.

gallaway cuts in & shortly says “i think we should ask them for control & authority over our property.”
mckeel agreed.

an issue for the county is that the statue itself is county property, but the surrounding land belongs to the city. they have limited space for any kind of contextualization.

liz palmer again emphasizing she doesn’t think this will go anywhere. so why try, right? jesus, eeyore, pull it together.

so no vote, but it’ll go on the agenda for the december 4th legislative work session (which i will, sadly, be unable to attend. it’s sure to be a great time!)