A mayor in Kentucky is pushing to relocate two Confederate statues following protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that resulted in three dead and several more injured.
Lexington Mayor Jim Gray tweeted Saturday that he planned to take steps to remove two Confederate memorials from the former county courthouse grounds on Main Street.
I am taking action to relocate the Confederate statues. We have thoroughly examined this issue, and heard from many of our citizens.
— Mayor Jim Gray (@JimGrayLexKY) August 12, 2017
The tragic events in Charlottesville today have accelerated the announcement I intended to make next week.
— Mayor Jim Gray (@JimGrayLexKY) August 12, 2017
Tuesday I will ask Council to support Lexington’s petition to the Ky Military Heritage Commission, a required next step. Details to come.
— Mayor Jim Gray (@JimGrayLexKY) August 12, 2017
Gray said he had planned to make the announcement next week but that the events in Charlottesville "accelerated the announcement."
Gray said he would ask the city council on Tuesday to request to the state military commission that the memorials be moved. The Kentucky Military Heritage Commission must approve the plan after the Lexington City Council votes on it.
The two statues memorialize John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge. Morgan was a general for the Confederacy as well as a slave owner. Breckinridge was vice president under James Buchanan before becoming a senator. He was later expelled from the Senate for joining the Confederate Army; he went on to became the Confederacy's last secretary of war.
