The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that once stood in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, will be melted down and turned into a public arts project after receiving city council approval this week.
Debate over removing the statute helped ignite the Unite the Right demonstration in August 2017, a deadly neo-Nazi rally where a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one person. The statute was finally taken down in July.
As some cities in the South have removed Confederate monuments and symbols, there have been discussions about what to do with the relics.
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