Richmond’s Robert E. Lee Monument Coming Down, as Black-Owned Casino Could Go Up

The Henry M. Robert E. Richard Henry Lee Memorial has been the focal gunpoint of Monumental Avenue for more than 130 years. Tomorrow, Sept 8, 2021, the controversial statue is slated to follow removed.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said that next the conclusion of several lawsuits intriguing the monument’s remotion in favour of the state, the shrine to the Civil War full general testament follow down.

Virginia’s largest monument to the Confederate insurrection will come up down feather this week,” Northam stated yesterday. “This is an of import stone's throw inward showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth.”

The son of a Revolutionary War officer, Robert Edward Lee graduated from the United States Military Academy and became known as a skilled wartime tactician. He served the Confederate States Army as full general and led the Army of Northern Old Dominion State — the Confederates’ primary feather military strength — from 1862 until its surrender inward 1985.

Richmond served as the Confederate upper-case letter during the Civil War.

Changing Attitudes, Complex History

For some Southerners, Confederate statues assist as symbols of Southern efforts inwards the war. But those who backing ridding tributes to Dixieland leaders say the memorials “represent a special lily-white supremacist and mythologized variant of Southern heritage — and make never accurately reflected the composite account of the region,” according to the Washington Post. Allowing the erections to remain standing could further advance those sentiments, critics argue.

It’s a divisive issue, but the Henry M. Robert E. Rose Louise Hovick remotion marks a monumental instant inward the city’s history. And it coincides with 1 of the largest investment funds proposals inward recent memory in capital of Virginia — a $600 zillion casino resort — coming from a black-owned conglomerate.

For many Richmonders, the two developments grade a important stone's throw send on in promoting diversity and separating the city from its Civil War past. But urban center leaders say a great deal more must be done.

In July, the Richmond City Council unanimously passed a resolving that declares racism a public health crisis. The movement implements young anti-racism laws and policies, and encourages lawmakers to encourage regulations that encourage unexampled minority-owned enterprises.

Racial Tensions

The Henry M. Robert E. Lee Memorial has been a content of contention for many years. The Confederate testimonial became the situation of large protests next the May 2020 slaying of George VI Floyd at the knee of then-Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin.

Richmond is unity of pentad cities below a cassino eyeshade Northam signed utmost yr that qualifies to host a gambling casino resort. With much interest, Richmond — dissimilar the quaternion other cities that held successful cassino ballot referendums inward November 2020 authorizing commercial message gambling — opted to wait a year.

City officials fielded legion(p) resort pitches from interested gambling casino operators and developers. A $600 gazillion bidding from The Cordish Companies targeting the flush Scott’s Addition neighborhood generated racial undertones when flyers opposing the gambling casino were distributed throughout the neighborhood.

Tell them to establish it o'er there,” record i division of the crusade materials. The flyer caused controversy and backlash, as critics suggested that the “over there” referred to poorer areas of Richmond.

Richmond eventually went with a casino project proposed past Urban One, a media conglomerate that comes with the slogan, “Representing Joseph Black America.”

Diverse Ownership

On Nov 2, if a unsubdivided majority of Richmond city voters rearward the Urban One presentation, the $600 million project will live cleared for construction. Urban One’s gambling casino — called ONE Casino + Resort — entails a large name of diverse local investors who would hold nonage stakes in the amusement destination upon elector approval.

Urban One says its casino would require 3,000 building workers, and outcome in 1,500 permanent operating positions. The electric current draft suggests a gaming space measuring 100,000 square toes feet with 1,800 expansion slot machines and 100 tabularise games, positive a sportsbook.

The cassino resort, targeting vacant soil close Duke of Edinburgh Morris, would to boot feature article a four-star hotel with 250 rooms, a concert, and entertainment house operated by Live Nation, 12 restaurants, 55 acres of unripe space, and on-site wireless and TV production studios.