I drove to Charlottesville, Va., last week to learn a bit about the city's difficult and complicated history — while touring three large Confederate monuments.

My tour was led by @Jalane_Schmidt, who teaches at @UVA. We started at the Albemarle County Courthouse, which is right beside a former slave auction block.
Why start here? "Because I want to remind people that the majority of the population was enslaved," Jalane said.

From there, you can pivot and behold this imposing and hard-to-miss monument: Johnny Reb, guarding that Albemarle County Courthouse flanked by cannons.

From that corner, you can also pivot and learn the tragic story of a Black man named John Henry James.

The last sentence of James's story, as it's recounted on this plaque, is illustrative of the racism that pervaded city leadership for many decades after Reconstruction.

Here's another angle on the courthouse-guarding Johnny Reb, as we passed en route to Stonewall Jackson.

The thing I'll say about Stonewall Jackson: the monument is just huge.

One big reason I came to Charlottesville was because after sundown, armed white dudes have been volunteering to guard these statues from would-be vandals and protesters. They claim the cops are ok with it.

However, these armed dudes are scaring the locals — and calling the cops on people who aren't vandals or protesters at all. People like dog-walkers, and university professor Jalane Schmidt (twice in the last couple weeks).
• https://www.thedailybeast.com/armed-volunteers-defend-white-supremacy-in-charlottesville?ref=home
• https://www.c-ville.com/on-guard-opposing-camps-face-off-as-sun-sets-on-confederate-statues/

One thing I never expected: These armed dudes are smearing Vaseline all over the signs surrounding Stonewall Jackson and the nearby Robert E. Lee monument. Presumably this is to prevent defacing the signs, but it's pretty disgusting reward for anyone trying to look closely.

The armed volunteers had set up cameras and trip wires around the monuments once vandalism started around Indigenous People's Day 2019.

Two months later, the balance of power in the Virginia state house would change for the first time since 1994.

• https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democrats-capture-virginia-state-senate-first-time-years-house-grabs-n1077036

Jalane then took me to Heather Heyer Way, where the 32-year-old protester was killed almost exactly three years ago in a vehicle-ramming attack by a white supremacist in August 2017.

Heather's favorite color was purple, which is why folks leave flowers like these at the scene.

There is a lot more detail to all of these stories. Read and learn more here: https://www.thesemonuments.org/?fbclid=IwAR3DKGfpgY4pZ_0GqbpdSp5Xe1gjesepeyPStAPk537Lv9gwAYVgnNdz3zc

Or follow along with Jalane and I in our latest #DefenseOneRadio podcast, which just posted today.

• Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/monuments-domestic-terrorism-american-white-power-movement/id1256043663?i=1000486185085
• Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/51R9hYTWK2Q73tSLA3l237