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thinking a lot about who and what we commemorate in our public space today. i spent the last hour walking slowly through and around and around court square park and found 20 plaques, statues, and signs in just this small square of downtown. 
you are, of course, familiar with this statue of stonewall jackson astride his horse, little sorrel.
and you probably know johnny reb, right in front of the courthouse.
this marker about monticello erected in the 20s reads like it was written by a child.
this marker seems to have no connection at all to the space it occupies along the sidewalk on high street
i’ve never even stopped to look at this plaque commemorating the placement of a bust of meriwether lewis in richmond. it holds a fairly prominent place in front of the courthouse, but has only been there 10 years. anyone know what used to be there?
the courthouse itself is honored as a virginia historic landmark. no mention on that plaque that it was also once home to klan meetings.
this big rock was to celebrate america’s 200th birthday
there are four benches outside the courthouse in remembrance of individual lawyers
and one bench dedicated to a pair of lovers
a very fine elm tree was awarded this plaque on 2015
whatever memorial garden linda’s friends intended doesn’t seem to be thriving, although i agree the future does indeed belong to those of us who believe passionately in community.
i don’t know enough about mary frazier cash to cast judgement, but i did let out a derisive laugh at the idea of this park, with its two confederate monuments, being rededicated in the spirit of infinite tolerance.
been thinking a lot about the anecdote of a five year old paul goodloe mcintire standing on his family’s porch, shaking his fist at the union troops streaming into town after the area surrendered.
the legislature should award people swords more often, i think.
and, of course, the park’s newest marker - this one, remembering john henry james, a black man who was denied justice in this courthouse by a lynch mob.
the marker for john henry james is just over spitting distance from the confederate monument put up by a committee chaired by the prosecutor who declined to pursue charges against any member of the lynch mob that killed james.
the marker remembering a black man brutally, extrajudicially murdered and the statue erected to instill racial terror in the black community stand just about equidistant from the courthouse doors. to whom does justice belong in this space?
