Charlottesville removes Confederate statues

Charlottesville removes Confederate statues

The statues of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Confederate General Robert E.

Lee were taken down in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, nearly four years after white supremacist protests over plans to remove the statue of Lee led to clashes in which a woman was killed.

This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.

Cheers broke out Saturday after a statue of Confederate General Robert E.

Lee was lifted from its base - and removed entirely - in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This comes nearly four years after white supremacist protests - over plans to remove it - led to clashes in which a woman was killed after she was run down by a car driven by a self-described neo-Nazi.

On Saturday - Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker spoke to a crowd gathered to watch the statue depart: "As this community and our country attempts to reconcile with this hypothesis of white supremacy, I hope that we can move to an authentic healing by embracing truth.” University of Virginia Professor Larycia Hawkins said she was excited to witness this ‘historical correction.’ “This is a good day.

It’s not erasing history.

It's, it's removing monuments that tell the wrong narrative about history.” A statue of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was also removed Saturday in another city park.

Such statues - honoring leaders of the pro-slavery Confederate side in the American Civil War - have become a focus of protests against racism in recent years.

In April, Virginia's highest court ruled the city could remove both statues, overturning a state Circuit Court decision that had upheld a citizen lawsuit.