In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:
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On today’s show:
The executive director of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center talks about the sudden acquisition of a statue
A look at upcoming county fairs in the area
And a look at upcoming meetings to talk about transit in Albemarle and Charlottesville
Virginia posts a record surplus for FY2021
When the pandemic forced the shutdown of many sectors of the economy in the spring of 2020, many predicted tough times for government budgets. However, the Commonwealth of Virginia closed fiscal year 2021 with a $2.6 billion surplus, the highest in history. Even with the slowdown, budget officials expected revenues to be about 2.7 percent over fiscal year 2020, but total revenue collections were 14.5 percent over that year. The details will be released on August 18 at a meeting of the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committee, but preliminary information is available in this release.
Though slightly outside of our area, the Fauquier County Fair began yesterday in Warrenton. The event is being held for the first time since 2018, having been canceled by the pandemic last year and by construction in 2019. The fair takes place through Sunday on grounds off of Old Auburn Road in Warrenton. There’s a rodeo on Friday night! Learn more in an article on Fauquier Now or take a look at the Fauquier County Fair website.
The Madison County Fair also kicked off yesterday through Sunday. We’ve missed the donkey races but the LumberJack show of Champions is on Friday night. The Louisa County Agricultural Fair begins on July 29. The Augusta County Fair begins on July 27. The Albemarle County Fair is a stripped-down event this year that begins on July 30 at James Monroe’s Highland.
“This year the 2021 Albemarle County Fair will focus solely on the exhibition and sale of livestock,” reads a notice on the fair’s website.
A group of medical professionals at the University of Virginia’s hospital for youth is opening a food pantry this month at the Battle Building on West Main Street. According to a release from what’s now known as UVA Children’s, the pantry builds on a partnership last November with the Local Food Hub’s Fresh Farmacy program that provided produce to pediatric patients and their families. An internal team put together a program to start the pantry and secured a three-year grant from Molina Healthcare as well as donations from Kroger. Here’s a link to the fundraising site if you want to contribute.
This Friday, riders of Charlottesville Area Transit will get the first of two chances to weigh in on proposed route changes that are intended to help boost ridership. A community meeting begins at noon to hear from representatives of CAT and the consultants Kimley-Horn and the Connectics Group to give public feedback on the new routes, which will extend bus service to Mill Creek. A second meeting will be held next Wednesday (Friday meeting info)
But what about people in parts of Albemarle that don’t have bus service? The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission has hired consultants to study ways to expand routes into urban sections of Albemarle, particularly on U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville, Pantops, and to Monticello. Two virtual meetings are scheduled later this month to get feedback from people with a focus on U.S. 29 north on July 26 and a focus on Pantops on July 28. These are being held through Microsoft Teams. (July 26 meeting) (July 28 meeting) (Read a StoryMap on the concept)
On Saturday, July 10, 2021, crews hired by the city of Charlottesville swiftly removed two statues honoring two Confederate generals from two City Parks. A few days before, Council had authorized spending up to $1 million for their removal, but a provision in the resolution cleared the way for some of that money to be used for the removal of the Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea statue that stood at the intersection of West Main Street and Ridge Street since 1919. The expedition west began in 1803 shortly after the Louisiana Purchase by President Thomas Jefferson.
Just after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, the city’s communications office put out a notice that Council would meet in an emergency session at noon. Here’s Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker.
“Thank you all for coming on short notice,” Walker said. “We are trying to just maximize the opportunity that we have with the crew being in town and taking care of just the legal issue of being able to move the statue on Main Street.”
To do so, Council had to adopt a motion waiving a requirement that at least five hours notice has to be given before an emergency meeting. (read the applicable City Code provision)
City Manager Chip Boyles said there had been no plan to remove the Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea statue, but there was “an unforeseen opportunity” to proceed because the Confederate sculptures were removed quicker than anticipated.
“The tremendous work by the city staff, the construction crews, and by our community support, has given the city an opportunity to finalize the interest that was provided by Council on November 15 of 2019 and then funded on Council on July 7, 2021,” Boyles said. “Council has been clear in their interest to relocate the Sacagawea, Lewis, and Clark statue to another location that’s either owned or co-owned by the city.”
Such a location is at Darden-Towe Park, which is co-owned by Albemarle and Charlottesville. Along the banks of the Rivanna River is the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center, which is run by executive director Alexandria Searls, who was contacted shortly before the emergency meeting. The item on the agenda was simply to relocate the statue, and not to transfer ownership. That will have to happen at a later date. Searls said the center would not take the statue without provisions.
“It would be my hope that to eventually if you decided to give us ownership of the statue to actually have provisions agreed to first about the type of interpretation because under my leadership, interpretation agreed with the Native Americans of Virginia and the Shoshone is highly important and I would want to ensure that for the future regardless of whether I’m there or not,” Searls said.
Searls said she would want to work with the Native American Student Union at the University of Virginia on interpretation efforts, as well as interpretations from others, particularly from Sacagawea’s own tribe.
“The Shoshone, the way that they would like the statue to be interpreted is of paramount importance,” Searls said. “Indigenous women are going missing to an alarming extent. Faces and people are disappearing. So one of the things that the statue in a way interprets is moving beyond sort of the white person fixation on Sacagawea and the way they contextualize her to a larger view of people who are living today and how they are represented.”
Rose Abrahamson is the great, great, great-niece of Sacagawea and she offered to Council her support to the statue’s transition to the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center. She had the chance to speak before the vote.
“Mayor, Councilors, city, I would like to say that we have come a long way,” Abrahamson said. “We have come a long way to become the human tribe that we should be and come together in unity and come together to educate our young and our future generations.”
Abrahamson said the statue’s new location at the Lewis and Clark Center would not be offensive, and a depiction of her ancestor that she personally finds offensive can be used to address a contemporary crisis.
“It can educate the public to the missing, murdered Indigenous Women, the plight of women in our society, the Native women,” Abrahamson said.
Within two hours of the vote, the city shut down the intersection of West Main, Ridge and McIntire by driving public works trucks into strategic positions. That allowed the same crew to come in to remove the bronze sculpture from its granite plinth.
At 2:31 p.m. a crane lifted the sculpture into the air eliciting cheers from the assembled crowd. The sculpture was placed on a flatbed trucks and taken straight to Darden Towe Park where Alexandria Searls was waiting to let them the crew in to drop off the sculpture. It has been placed temporarily on a square of wooden beams behind a orange mesh fence.
In February, the city had sent out a request for information for groups interested in receiving the statue, and the Lewis and Clark was just one of groups that fulfilled that request. I spoke to Searls inside the Lewis and Clark Center on Monday about the process that got the statue there, and what comes next.
Searls:
We were founded right before the Bicentennial and we teach the skills of exploration as well as the local and national history of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Tubbs:
Can you just describe where we’re sitting?
Searls:
We are sitting along the banks of the Rivanna River and we are right underneath the Southwest Mountains as well as near the birthplace of George Rogers Clark. The land that we’re on was once very important to the Monacan nation as part of a whole interconnected group of villages along the Rivanna, or what we call the Rivanna. We don’t know their name for the river.
Later this was owned by Jonathan Clark who was the grandfather of William Clark.
Tubbs:
Now it’s been almost a year and a half since the City Council decided to vote to remove the statue. At that time, was there any interest of it coming over here?
Searls:
There was interest in it coming over but we didn’t want to lobby for a certain outcome because we felt that it was owned by the community and we wanted to value what the community decision was. So we made it clear that we were open to receiving it if that ended up being the decision. I sent a letter to Council at that point saying that if you move it, we are open to receiving it.
Tubbs:
Well, let’s go back to that because it seems a bit intractable. I think it was last year when the Council said yet again ‘we’d like to see proposals.’ Can you just talk a little about… obviously it’s here now but before it was here, can you give a sense of what are some of the planning things you need to just to anticipate the possibility of it coming here?
Searls:
That’s an interesting question because it wouldn’t be here right now if I had not done more work than the [Request for Information] asked for. The county of Albemarle has been a wonderful partner to us. And the park people here are amazing. This park is run so well. And when we answered the call for the RFI, I was taking it very seriously. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t promising something that the county wasn’t going to like and I wanted to research and do everything from how we were going to afford somebody to move it to what the site plan requirements are and I got started on this and I was writing a proposal. I talked to the engineer who prepared At the Ready to be moved. I had the figures. Turned out they didn’t even want to know the figures.
So when I said I’m getting the permission of the Board of Supervisors to do this, I was told ‘this RFI is not supposed to be detailed. You’re supposed to write a one page proposal and if we like it we’ll ask you to make a long one. I’m really glad I didn’t listen to that because I basically said ‘Albemarle County is my partner and I’m not going to put in an idea for a proposal without them.’
I had before the day of the emergency meeting approached City Hall, not the Councilors, but the City Hall, to be an option for that because with so little money that we have, I knew that this might be the only opportunity to have it here at least for a while. And we used it today in an educational program for the first time so that was exciting.
On the other hand, I also started researching the statue and through a genealogist I located the grandchildren of the sculptor.
Tubbs:
Who was the sculptor?
Searls:
The sculptor was Charles Keck. He also did the Jackson that was removed. He did both of those. And I was preparing if we were to receive the statue to do a complete evaluation of what the interpretation would be. So I also consulted art historians, I talked to Indigenous historians, I have begun to read books written about Lewis and Clark in the early 1900’s to get an idea of the mindsets of the time when it was created.
Tubbs:
And when was it created? Was it created for a specific purpose?
Searls:
That’s an interesting story because it was created as a commission but they only commissioned Lewis and Clark. They did not commission Sacagawea so basically the sculptor decided to add her and that is significant from what I found out from the family because he was a sculptor that took any commission that went his way because he had lost an amazing amount of money in one of the crashes. He owed his best friend who bailed him out about $100,000 and that’s a lot now but it was even more then. So he wasn’t in a position to be discriminate and could no longer do the sculptures that he wanted to do. So basically she was the only sculpture that he did that he wanted to do. And I haven’t sorted that through completely but it was just one aspect of what I wanted to know about the situation.
Tubbs:
So one of the critiques of the statue for many years has been that Sacagawea is cowering. Others say that she’s searching. I don’t know the statue that well, but isn’t that part of the interpretation process?
Searls:
Yes, and I’ve got to say here that I’m not finished coming up with my own reactions to this statue. But let me back up by saying that there’s an interesting phenomenon going on and that’s the phenomenon that when something is up, that means its endorsed. And that is not part of my belief at all. I think a statue whose original intent — and I’m not really talking about specifically about Lewis and Clark, I’m talking all statues — was one thing, like to glorify a hero that might not be deserving of glory or to reveal the power of the ruler, ruling class. Just because you leave it up doesn’t mean you agree with it.
For example, when I look at that Lewis and Clark statue, even though its meant to glorify them as heroes, I do not think that they were flawless heroes. In fact, a lot of what we do here is examine their failings actually. What do you think?
Tubbs:
Well, I’m still just trying to figure it out because its interesting. If you look at the three statues that were taken down on Saturday, two of them are in an undisclosed location and may never ever see the light of day. We don’t know yet. But at least with this one, it will have a new life, potentially here, especially if you can get some funding to do the proper interpretation and to install it in some way that maybe you haven’t figured out yet. But at least there’s a sense of ‘well, at we’re going to melt it down as one of the descendants said on Saturday.
Searls:
One phrase that I think of a lot, not just on these issues but in general is that: In war, treat your victories like a funeral. And to me that means if you’re in a war, someone is dying and even if you win you shouldn’t rejoice because it’s better not to demonize your opponent. It’s better to look at them with some empathy of their dead or of their situation. It’s better not to immediately assume that someone who wants to melt down a statue resembles the Taliban. Maybe they don’t. Or it’s better not to think that someone who wants the statues to stay in place is a racist because maybe they aren’t.
I get reasons and viewpoints. I receive emails, calls. I’ve listened. And I think that it’s dangerous on so many levels to rejoice in the face of the people who are crying, because any victory anybody somebody is crying. So my effort here is to find a way of compromising even if that might not be possible but at least a way to respect different viewpoints and to let people come to new viewpoints.
It’s important to realize that when you have your dead that other people have theirs. For example, if somebody looks at that statue and only sees a heroic Lewis and Clark and doesn’t see the Trail of Tears that followed soon afterwards, that’s celebrating something without crying for the other side.
You’re reading to Charlottesville Community Engagement and an interview with Alexandria Searls of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center. We’ll be back to that in just a moment.
In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers to help out on Clean Stream Tuesdays, a mile and a half paddle and clean-up to remove trash and debris from popular stretches of the Rivanna River. Trash bags, trash pickers, gloves, and hand sanitizer/wipes will be provided, though volunteers will need to transport themselves to and from the end points. Kayaks for the purpose can be rented from the Rivanna River Company. Visit the Rivanna Conservation Alliance's volunteer page to learn more about upcoming dates.
The Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea statue is now on the grounds of the Center inside of Darden Towe Park, which is jointly owned by Albemarle and Charlottesville. Searls said the statue is very different close-up than from where it stood for 102 years and there’s a bit of a mystery.
Searls:
You know, I still haven’t decided if it’s three people or four people in the statue. I can see the fourth person perhaps now that I can get close to it.
When the Shoshone were here, we talked about the terrible plight of missing Indigenous women and since Sacagawea is somewhat missing in terms of when you look at that composition, she’s like down there, and there’s taking up space with their guns. The ultimate sort of disappearing is actually disappearing and never being seen again. And that’s what’s happening to young women today.
In terms of white Americans revering Sacagawea at different points because she helped them or she was seen as friendly to white explorers, but really what I would like to see in terms of Indigenous people is really seeing the people of today. And one of the women who came, Dustina Abrahamson, had suggested the statue could be used as some sort of a starting point for people making new art and making people see the people who are disappearing. And I’ve been following her Facebook page since they visited in 2019 and I’ve seen a relative of hers go missing and I’ve seen other challenges that happen in Indigenous communities so I think we need to move beyond these handful of icons that we’ve put up and move into the thousands of native people who are actually here.
Tubbs:
What can this Center do? Obviously, the whole point is to draw awareness of this past but yet not to say ‘it was this way’ or ‘it was that way.’ People who visit here, what do you want them to takeaway? Do you need the statue to do this?
Searls:
My staff and I were talking about this today. I don’t think we need anything except the woods, the river, and a place to rest in between. Our programs are very oral. We get all this knowledge and we study and we interpret it and we talk to people basically. You don’t see any signs here telling you what to think about anything.
I arrived in Charlottesville on the Greyhound bus or Trailways or whatever it was back then with my duffel bag to be a first year at UVA. I came out of that door with my duffel and there were taxis and there was that statue. I went to high school in New York City and I wasn’t impressed with the statue. All I saw were a bunch of guns and it’s hard for me to imagine that it would become part of my life. And I didn’t even see her. I just saw two men. I didn’t know what it was whatsoever.
Let’s go back to what I said about are there three people or four in that sculpture? At first I only thought there were only two when I first arrived in Charlottesville so one of the preeminent art historians, Malcolm Bell from UVA, said that there four people in that sculpture and that she was holding a baby and there’s a cradle-board and the baby’s in there. I didn’t see it. And even though he’s famous with books, I was willing to think he wasn’t right. Then when I encountered the sculpture over there, I saw that he’s very possibly right. And it puts a new spin on it because when you get close you can see that William Clark’s hand and hers are touching along a piece of wood. And they’re both holding it up. You can see a sack in there and you can see more of an extension of something in there in the back.
She’s sitting on some rocks and he’s helping her carry that as she’s leaning forward and they’re meant to be on the cliffs looking at the Pacific and so she’s looking down at the ocean and William Clark is looking just ahead and then Meriwether Lewis on top is looking at the far distance and that’s definitely a hierarchy. I mean, it’s Lewis preeminent, William Clark, and then the woman in the way that she is.
But it does matter to me whether she’s holding a baby or not and he’s helping her hold whatever it is. So, I haven’t asked Professor Bell what the documentation of this is because I know the sculptor did not take notes of any extent. Now, he did have a collection of books so I think the answer is in what he would have read about Lewis and Clark back then and I read a book written in 1905 about Sacagawea and she never let her baby out of her sight. She was always carrying that baby. So I’m of the opinion now that there are four people in that statue. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I say this to say I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with that statue. I know he wanted to honor her. I know he wasn’t trying to degrade her.And that is important to me. If I felt like he had tried, I would not have wanted that here. And there are people I’m sure who do think that was his goal.
Tubbs:
So it’s only been here for two days as we’re talking. Now it’s here. You still have the interpretive work. You’re not finished with the work that you thought you were going to have to do to get it here. Suddenly it’s here. How do you feel?
Searls:
I feel excited. I mean, it is pretty amazing to see these huge faces being pulled up the hill. I was waiting at the gate. I let them in at the gate. It took hours. They told me it would be 20 minutes but I was there for hours. So I opened up the gate and then the cortege comes through. A flatbed. A trailer. A crane. And about 30 cars with lights. To see them all go up the hill and to see those faces going towards the Center was pretty amazing. I wasn’t at the removal of the Confederate statues but they seemed to be moving backwards with their rears so it was sort of more like they were riding out of town whereas this felt like they were arriving and it was pretty amazing.
Tubbs:
You said you were excited about this. What are some of the possibilities now?
Searls:
I think that some of the possibilities [are] that if you’re showing something that is painful to some other people, it requires some work together. And I do think that out of this will come more partnerships with Native Americans about Indigenous representation and I think that we’ll all be more aware. And the park guy said that a woman this morning came and put up a sign up by the statue briefly that this is Native land and she took a picture of the statue with it and then left.
But we teach that this is Native land. We teach about the Monacans. We regularly every two years are invited by to different tribes out west as part of being in a Lewis and Clark group. I think that the focus will be even more on that and I am certainly learning much more. I’m reading Jeff Hantmann’s book Monacan Millennium right now, and I’m reading more about Sacagawea and the attitudes that have been about her throughout the decades. So I think it will make those realities more of the story. Not less.
Tubbs:
You said that you used it today in the camp. How so?
Searls:
So, when the kids came, they’re 8 to 11, we all walked over there. And actually I invited their parents too because it is a camp that’s about history and it is about exploration and it is actually historic when a 100-year-old monument moves so I wanted them to be part of that history and the first group.
And I basically said: Is there a baby there?
July 15, 2021: Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center Director reflects on the sudden appearance of a statue