Crews work to dismantle the pedestal that once held the James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart Confederate statue. The monument was painted in brightly covered protest messages in 2020. After the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, protesters in the city took to the streets. Marches were organized and some protesters turned their attention to the Confederate monuments in the city, demanding that these symbols be removed. The plinths of many of the monuments, including the Stuart Confederate Monument, were tagged with messages that called for police reform. The monument sat on a tree lined boulevard aptly named "Monument Avenue". The avenue is lined with large affluent homes and until recently, it was punctuated with 5 massive Confederate statues. After the social justice protests, the unified calls for justice and reform, and several court cases, all 5 statues, as well as other statues around the city, were removed and their pedestals were dismantled.