RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — More than 3500 people have signed an online petition to rename Jefferson Davis Highway.
The Change.org petition is calling on Governor McAuliffe to rename U.S. Route 1. Petition organizers say the former president of the Confederacy has no place in the Commonwealth.
The petition is the latest call to action in the controversy surrounding Confederate symbols amid a momentous nationwide movement following the shooting of nine churchgoers by an alleged white supremacist last month in Charleston, South Carolina.
Other online petitions (which can be found here and here) have since been posted countering the call to rename the road.
Meanwhile, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) group has filed a response to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ motion to vacate a 2001 decision to begin issuing the specialty license plates bearing the SCV’s Confederate Battle flag-themed logo. A hearing on that motion is currently scheduled for July 31, at 11 a.m. at the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Danville.
Stay with 8News for more on these developing stories.
