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		</div><p>A statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee that was a focal point of a deadly white nationalist protest in 2017 has been melted down and will be repurposed into works of art.</p>
<p>The Jefferson School African American Heritage Centre, a Charlottesville-based black history museum, said that the statue had been destroyed.</p>
<p>The Charlottesville City Council voted in 2021 to donate the statue to the heritage centre, after it proposed a Swords into Ploughshares project that would melt the statue and repurpose it into “public art that expresses the city’s values of inclusivity and racial justice”.</p>
<p>The statue was taken down in 2021 after years of debate and delay.</p>
<p>Protests over the plan to remove the statue morphed into the violent “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.</p>
<p>It was during that rally that James Alex Fields Jr, an avowed Hitler admirer, intentionally drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others. Fields is serving a life sentence.</p>
<p>Two groups that had sought to preserve the statue sued last year to try to block the city from donating it to the heritage centre but a judge threw out their case.</p>
<p>At a news conference, heritage centre officials said they plan to solicit proposals on how to repurpose the statue. The centre hopes to pick an artist next year and is conducting a 4 million dollar fundraising campaign.</p>
<p>For now, the bronze from the statue has been moulded into ingots stamped with the words “SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES”, some of which were on display at the news conference.</p>
<p>“Our efforts have been not to remove history but bear witness to the truths about our racist pasts and our aspirations for a more equitable future,” said Andrea Douglas, director of the heritage centre.</p>
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