Thousands gathered in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom district Friday for the dedication and unveiling ceremony of the Richmond Slavery Reconciliation Statue.
International representatives from Africa’s Republic of Benin and Great Britain, as well as Gov. Tim Kaine and members of Richmond City Council attended the statue’s dedication. Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder had a previous engagement in Washington, D.C., and sent his acting chief administrative officer Harry E. Black in his place.
Rev. Delores L. McQuinn, vice president of Richmond City Council and chair of the Slave Trail Commission, said the statue was a gesture of forgiveness.
“I stand here today with so many mixed emotions,” she said. “This day is truly about reconciliation . but also it’s about living in the present.”
Erected in conjunction with statues in the Republic of Benin and England, the Richmond statue is meant to mourn a trade triangle, which enabled the transfer of an estimated 100,000 slaves from Africa to Virginia in the 18th century.
The dedication of the statue followed months of controversy started by a statement Caucasian Virginia Delegate Frank Hargrove, R-Glen Allen, made.
“Our black citizens should get over it,” Hargrove said about slavery
At the dedication ceremony, Kaine said the General Assembly was right to issue a formal apology to descendents of enslaved people.
“At the end of the day, the legislature did render an appropriate admission of regret,” Kaine said. “Our city and our state, and our nation, are infinitely better off that African-Americans are on this soil.”
Not everyone was satisfied with the formal apology and the statue, however.
Duron Chavis, founder of the pro-black festival Happily Natural Day, protested at the statue dedication.
“I can’t accept that apology,” Chavis said. “It’s not enough.”
Chavis held a sign reading, “Put Ya $$ Where Ya Mouth Is.” He said many people approached him during and after the ceremony to voice support for his cause.
“Nobody (in the government) is talking about restitution or reparations,” Chavis said.
Keynote speaker John W. Kinney, dean of the School of Theology at Virginia Union University, said the statue alone is not enough to ensure future equality.
“If this moment is just a political, cosmetic moment, nothing will be different,” he said. “Reconciliation is never achieved. It is always pursued.”
Kinney said Americans must make an everyday commitment to remember slavery and its implications.
“You cannot resolve in one gesture what it took 400 years to evolve,” Kinney said.
Yet, Kinney said, the statue stands as an important reminder of the social injustices that occurred in Richmond.
“Never forget; for when you fail to remember, in failing, you are allowing it to come back to life,” Kinney said.
Choirs from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Armstrong High School and Faith Academy School of Excellence performed at the ceremony. Verizon’s Randy Dillard and Deborah Jewell-Sherman, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, also spoke.
As a representative of Richmond, which served as the capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War, City Council President William J. Pantele said humans have a capacity for evil. Americans must move forward in honesty and understanding, Pantele said, to overcome slavery’s implications.
“Life’s precious gifts cannot be reduced to trade,” Pantele said. “It is thus appropriate that the (statue) be erected here to commemorate and acknowledge Richmond’s participation.”