Julio Cesar Chavez, Dan Fastenberg

RICHMOND/VA (Reuters) – A year ago, George Floyd’s death sparked the removal of Confederate symbols. According to a Southern Poverty Law Center study released Tuesday, the United States keeps removing these symbol at an unimaginable rate.

Lecia Brooks said that the elimination of the 73 signs, statues and school names by 2021 is not just math.

Demands for the destruction symbols honoring Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee show a wake-up to the danger of honoring racist figures.

Brooks noted that “there has been tremendous progress in the removal of memorials and monuments dedicated to Robert E. Lee”, noting that there are more shrines honoring him across the country than any other Confederate leader.

“This shows us that the general public is becoming educated about Confederate leaders. They are asking for their removal from public spaces.”

Following a one-year legal battle for the monument, which was at the center of the protests of racial inequity over the past year, Richmond saw the Robert E. Lee statue removed from its location.

Its report, “Whose Heritage?” explains.According to the center’s report “Whose Heritage?”, Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. This incident sparked an investigation into racial discrimination and the removal of symbols at 159 places across the country.

According to the report, 2020 and 2021 were more destructive than 2019, which saw 21 symbols taken down.

Brooks explained that six of the southern states, including six in which so-called heritage laws were passed to prohibit removal of Confederate symbols from being removed, are facing obstacles when trying to remove Confederate symbols.

Montgomery, Alabama – The City Council changed Jeff Davis Avenue from Jefferson Davis Avenue to Fred D. Gray Avenue. It was named in Jefferson Davis’ honor, after the President of Confederate States Jefferson Davis. The state attorney General’s Office is contesting this renaming.