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The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has been taken down in Charlottesville, Virginia

10 July 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Heavy machinery hoisted the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from its stone pedestal in Charlottesville, Virginia, around 8 a.m. Saturday morning, AP reports.

The big picture: The removal comes four years after the 2017 "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally, when hundreds of alt-right supporters gathered carrying torches and signs that read "white lives matter." The rally then started because protestors opposed the city's decision to get rid of the monument.

  • The rally left 32-year-old protester Heather Heyer dead.
  • City officials announced plans to remove the statue on Friday.

Details: Another Confederate statue, one of of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, is also set to be taken down, AP notes.

  • Of note: The stone pedestals will be taken down and taken to a secure location until the Charlottesville City Council decides what should be done with them.

What they're saying: "Taking down this statue is one small step closer to the goal of helping Charlottesville, Virginia, and America, grapple with the sin of being willing to destroy Black people for economic gain," Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said in a speech when the removal process started, per AP.

  • "This is well overdue," Zyahna Bryant, a student who in 2016 started the push to remove confederate statues from the city.
  • "No platform for racism. No platform for hate," Bryant added.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.