Demand the VMFA return the Confederate Battle Flags to the portico of the Confederate War Memorial

Confederate flags had flown over the grounds since the opening of the Old Soldiers Home in Richmond, VA in 1885. They were placed there by Confederate Veterans, to memorialize the Confederate dead, and honor the living. On the eve of the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the War Between the States, June 1st, 2010, Confederate Battle Flags were forcibly removed from the Confederate War Memorial/Pelham Chapel by a restriction in the lease renewal, at the insistence of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

As citizens of Virginia and descendants of Confederate soldiers who gallantly answered Virginia’s call to defend her, we demand that the VMFA remove these blatantly prejudicial restrictions and allow the Confederate Battle Flags to once again fly on the Confederate War Memorial.