Lexington, Ky., Mayor Jim Gray doesn’t have to watch footage of the violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend to know how divisive Confederate monuments can be.
At family reunions and holiday dinners his whole life, he has heard about his great-uncles fighting each other in the Civil War’s Battle of Shiloh. Two were on the Union’s side. One fought for the Confederacy.
Now, the 53-year-old mayor, who is white, is bracing for more controversy — and potentially worse, given the unrest in Charlottesville — after he announced plans on Saturday to move two Confederate monuments from prominent places near Lexington’s historic courthouse.