“Outrage over the police killing of George Floyd 11 months ago has ushered in a historic pace for removals of Confederate symbols from public spaces. At least 167 Confederate symbols around the U.S. have been removed or renamed since Floyd’s death last May, Southern Poverty Law Center data shows. That includes one symbol stolen from public property in Arizona, sparing Gov. Doug Ducey from having to make the call himself. Tuesday’s jury verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin triggered both positive and negative predictions about the prospects of passing racial justice reforms with teeth” Axios reports.

“But regardless of what Congress does around policing, the dismantlement and replacement of racist symbols has taken on a new momentum at the local, state and national level after decades of efforts. SPLC said 94 Confederate monuments were removed in 2020 – compared with a total of 58 removed between 2015 and 2019. Virginia and North Carolina have led states overall in removing Confederate symbols. Virginia on Friday celebrated the 70th anniversary of 16-year-old Barbara Johns leading a Black student strike protesting the deplorable conditions in the state’s segregated schools. Those students later joined as plaintiffs in Brown vs. Board of Education. Johns, a librarian who died in obscurity in 1991, was recently chosen as a figure to replace the Robert E. Lee statue that was removed from the U.S. Capitol.”