RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A group supporting the preservation of Confederate monuments in Richmond has canceled its plans to hold a rally next month.
Organizer Bragdon Bowling told media outlets Tuesday that Americans for Richmond Monument Preservation is pulling its permit request for the Sept. 16 rally in light of the violence in Charlottesville.
The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Bowling says he doesn’t “want to be part of an event where people are hurt or killed.” Bowling says the group’s goal is to “save the monuments, not be engaged in social and racial issues.”
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Bowling filed the permit request weeks before the Charlottesville white nationalist rally that turned deadly.
Mayor Levar Stoney says he thinks the monuments should stay but appointed a group to study ways to add historical context or new statues.
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