Charlottesville Wants to Cover Confederate Statues. But Finding Fabric Large Enough Isn't Easy, Leaders Say

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 8/23/2017, 8:15 a.m.
Officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, want to cover two controversial Confederate statues -- but they say finding pieces of black material …
The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee stands in the center of the newly renamed Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia.

By AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN

(CNN) -- Officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, want to cover two controversial Confederate statues -- but they say finding pieces of black material large enough to do the job is proving difficult.

At a heated meeting this week, the Charlottesville City Council unanimously voted to cover the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in black.

The vote was meant to signal the city mourning the death of Heather Heyer, who was killed August 12 when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters who'd gathered to oppose a rally of white nationalist and other right-wing organizations.

Such groups have been drawn to Charlottesville since the council voted in February to remove the Lee monument from its central downtown spot; that decision is being challenged in court.

But now, city leaders say, finding weatherproof fabric that's large enough to cover the statues isn't easy.

"The parks and rec department are trying to figure out where to purchase a shroud of that size and get it shipped as quickly as possible," Paige Rice, the City Council clerk, told CNN.

The city had hoped to have the statues covered by the end of this week. But that timeline may not be realistic at this point, Rice said.

"We are trying to get in touch with event companies or other cities who have done something similar to see where they got the shrouds," Rice said.

"It has to be two very large pieces of material to cover these statues," she said. "We are moving as quickly as possible, and the only hold-up right now is finding the fabric. As soon as we have it, the statues will be covered."

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