Roy Cooper removed the statue Sunday morning and began taking down the obelisk on which it stood. Sunday’s work follows the removal of two other Confederate statues on the state capitol grounds in Raleigh on Saturday. Cooper ordered the statues removed after protesters toppled two other Confederate statues Friday night, stringing one up by the neck and hanging it from a light pole. As statues and memorials to the Confederacy have been targeted across the South, prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protesters have also at times targeted Founding Fathers who were slaveholders, including Washington. Sign Up NowIn another case in California, symbols of the Black Lives Matter movement have been targeted in recent weeks with vandalism.

Source: thestar June 21, 2020 19:59 UTC