Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said on Tuesday that he and his administration would continue to fight to take down a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on state land in Richmond after a judge stopped the statue’s removal.
At a briefing, Northam called the statue “a monument for divisiveness that needs to come down” and that “we are on very solid legal ground” to remove the statue.
A judge in Richmond granted a 10-day injunction sought by Virginia resident William C. Gregory, saying there is a likelihood of “irreparable harm” to the statue if it is removed.
In his complaint filed Monday, Gregory argues that removal of the statue violates an 1890 deed, in which Virginia, having been transferred the land the statue sits on, agreed to “faithfully guard and affectionately protect it.” Gregory is identified as the great-grandson of two parties and signatories to the deed.
Northam’s counsel, Rita Davis, said of the injunction, “We expected that action, we prepared for that action, and we look forward to litigating that action.”
She added, “The purpose of this monument was to recast Virginia’s history. To recast it to fit a narrative that minimized a devastating evil perpetrated on African Americans during the darkest part of our past.”
Taking it down, she said, would amount to “reclaiming the truth of Virginia’s history, and to reclaiming that for all Virginians.”
Amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, Northam announced last week that the statue of Lee would come down and be moved into storage as they “work with the community to determine its future.”
Protesters on Saturday toppled a statue of Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham from its pedestal in Monroe Park, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
CNN contributed to this report.
