Understandably moved and saddened by the white pride march and resulting death in Charlottesville recently, residents of nearby Olde Towne Portsmouth in Virginia have devised a plan to help inspire hope and acceptance in their community. Taking matters into their own hands, they’ve formed a petition to convince their Mayor to replace an existing Confederate monument with a statue of “true Portsmouth native hero”, Missy Elliott.
At the time of writing, almost 26,000 people have signed the petition with its founder making a compelling argument to support a permanent ode to the hip hop legend. On the Change.org site he argues, “Who better to encapsulate the culture and spirit of the city enshrined in a new monument than Grammy Award winning rapper, dancer, and record producer Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott? Getting this statue put up will be a lot of work and you may ask yourself is it worth it? I say yes and ask you to join me in letting us work it. Together we can put white supremacy down, flip it and reverse it. Missy is all of us. Missy is everything the Confederacy was not.”
And in the wake of the recent Charlottesville tragedy, support for the removal of Confederate monuments continues to swell. In fact the Mayor of Charlottesville has publicly changed his stance, declaring his change of heart and new plan in a statement to CNN, adding, “For the sake of public safety, public reassurance, to magnify Heather’s voice, and to repudiate the pure evil that visited us here, I am calling today for the removal of these Confederate statues from downtown Charlottesville.” Having a proud, inspiring woman erected in its place is a long shot, but still an idea that a lot of people are clearly backing.