RICHMOND, Va. – United States Sen. Tim Kaine said Monday he supports Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney taking down Confederate monuments in Richmond.
Kaine himself served as Richmond’s mayor from July 1998 to September 2001.
As of July 1, a new state law allows localities to decide what to do with their monuments.
However, the new law requires a process, but Stoney said they can be removed immediately for safety, due to the city’s current state of emergency.
Kaine said recent conversations with African Americans have helped him realize the monuments are more than a symbol of a painful history.
“This person said to me, ‘You might see them as a symbol of a painful past, I see them as a symbol of a really-troubled present and I worry that they may also be a symbol of a difficult future.' That made me see these a little bit differently,” said Kaine.
Stoney said the monuments will be held in storage until the legal process for removing them plays out.