Va. Portrait of Confederate Gen. Lee Vandalized
A portrait of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee hanging at an outdoor gallery devoted to the city’s history was vandalized Monday, police said.
Joel Lawson, a police arson investigator, declined to describe the nature or the extent of the damage to the portrait. The case is under investigation.
The City Council voted last summer to display the portrait following a debate over whether Lee’s role in defending slavery in the South made his image offensive to blacks. Lee lived briefly in Richmond after the Civil War.
City Councilman Sa’ad El-Amin, who is black, threatened a boycott of the entire historical display, prompting organizers to alter plans and choose a depiction of Lee in civilian clothes.
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