Devon Henry stepped in to remove almost all of Richmond's Confederate statues after White contractors refused. It changed his life.
RICHMOND — Workers in bright yellow vests circled up in the morning chill. Some clutched cups of Starbucks coffee, a last comfort before beginning the hard work of dismantling a statue of ConfederateAs a small group of Confederate heritage defenders assembled nearby — at least one of them armed — city safety coordinator Miles Jones lectured the work crew on wearing hard hats and eye protection.
Over and over, history-minded friends directed Henry to the words of John Mitchell Jr., the civil rights pioneer and editor of the “I was pretty forthcoming that we hadn’t been able to find anybody to take on the job,” Mercer said in an interview. In fact, the responses from other contractors were “pretty overtly racist,” he said, including language that he found threatening. “Devon seemed to understand the magnitude of what I was asking him.”
Her example of hard work pushed Henry. When he learned of a small construction business going up for sale in the city of Suffolk, he made a snap decision to leave G.E. and put all his savings into buying it. Henry and his wife commuted 90 minutes every day from Richmond to Suffolk — in separate cars so one could get back and pick up their daughter from school.
Henry immediately went home and rounded up his wife and teenage daughter and son. He explained that he had an opportunity that would be somewhat controversial, and described it. “My son was like, well Dad, look, you’re going to always be my hero so it doesn’t really matter,” Henry said. “But this would be really cool.”At work, some employees “really didn’t like the idea of it at all and were not in favor of us moving forward,” he said. “Some were more about security, safety.
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