The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality, a group that’s advocated for a slavery memorial park in Shockoe Bottom, called on Stoney to “publicly declare that taking down the statues is one of the options to be considered,” and to broaden the commission to include people who have publicly supported the idea.

The Richmond Free Press, the city’s largest black-owned media outlet, derided Stoney’s approach as “ridiculous” and said in an editorial that he should be ashamed: “What context can possibly change the statues’ meaning and message from what was meant when they were erected following a bloody Civil War fought to keep black people in bondage? And what can possibly change their present context as tributes glorifying racist, un-American traitors ...?”

On the other side of the issue, Confederate heritage groups have come out in droves to argue against additional statues and the addition of any plaques.

A representative of the Virginia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, B. Frank Earnest Sr., has said it should be clear to everyone that the statues are simply commemorations of people who made sacrifices during a war fighting for their beliefs: “Not some silliness about Jim Crow and trying to bring back slavery or whatever silliness they think it is.”