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On June 17, 2015, the outspoken white supremacist, Dylann Roof, planned to act on his hatred which an been manifesting exponentially after the shooting of Trayvon Martin. At around 9 am, Roof went into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, Louisiana and killed 9 people. Because of this, people started to look at the Confederate symbols differently, thus starting a ripple of support and controversy on what should happen to Confederate statues and monuments.
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In response to the shooting at the Emanuel AME Church, South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its capital in Columbia on July 10, 2015. The governor, Nikki Haley signed a bill to remove it. She used 9 pens to sign the bill, because there were 9 families affected by the shooting.
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New Orleans was inspired by the recent events involving getting rid of the hate symbols. ON December 1, 2015, New Orleans decided to remove 3 Confederate monuments, including a statue of Robert E. Lee, one of the most well-known faces of the Confederacy.
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In Charlottesville, Virginia, the city council decided to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. This decision was met with agreement and not.
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The statue of Robert E. Lee was taken down and sold as per the council's decision.
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A monument of a Confederate soldier in St. Louis, Missouri was removed after numerous protests and the phrases, ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘End Racism’, were spray painted on the base because of the recent killing of Michael Brown.
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A Unite the Right rally was held protesting the backlash of local white nationalists regarding Charlottesville, Virginia but went ‘south’. Protesters between the two sides started to get fired up. The rally turned violent. A truck from the side of the white nationalists drove into the crowd and killed 1 woman, injuring 19 others.
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7 protesters in Durham, North Carolina publicly brought down a Confederate statue without permission and were arrested.
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The senator of New Jersey, Cory Booker, and the Representative of California, Barbara Lee, proposed a bill (Confederate Monumental Act) to remove all Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol Building.
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The Confederate Monumental Act was referred to the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is still unclear what the decision is, but Congress is currently looking over it.
