In Richmond, capital of the slave South, no white construction boss wanted to remove Confederate statues. It was Devon Henry who took on this task, oh so dangerous and symbolic for an African-American. “The Washington Post” recounts his adventure.
The Richmond – Workers in fluorescent yellow vests form a circle in the morning freshness. Some hold a cup of Starbucks coffee in their hands, a final comfort before starting the hard work that awaits them: to unbolt the statue of Confederate General AP Hill which stands in the middle of a crossroads.
A small group of Confederate heritage defenders have gathered nearby — at least one of them is armed. Miles Jones, the city’s safety officer, reminds workers to wear helmets and goggles. Who will be the site manager, he asks? A black bearded man wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses and a Norfolk State University sweatshirt takes a step forward.
“What is your name, sir ? asks Jones.
— Devon Henry.
— Devon Hen…, Jones begins then he lowers his voice respectfully. Oh, Mr. Henry, of course.”
This name now carries weight in Richmond. Over the past three years, the former Confederate capital has removed more than a dozen statues erected at the ‘lost cause’ – and it was Henry who supervised the work.
extremely risky
He didn’t look for it. He had never paid much attention to the history of the Civil War. The city and state turned to Team Henry Enterprises because they had been turned down by a long list of larger companies, all white-owned.
This task was extremely risky for a black man. Henry hid his company name for a while and avoided interviews for a long time. He received death threats, some of his employees resigned, and colleagues assured him that he had no future. He took to wearing a bulletproof vest on construction sites and got permission to carry a concealed weapon for protection.
After dismantling 24 monuments in Virginia and North Carolina, Henry, 45, feels more comfortable with his role in acknowledging the social injustices that have happened in the South. The threats haven’t diminished, but Henry has simply learned to live with them.
History-conscious friends keep reminding him of the words that civil rights pioneer John Mitchell Jr. published in 1890 in the Richmond Planet, a revolutionary black newspaper for the time. In the year the state erected the Robert E. Lee statue on what would become Monument Avenue, he wrote:
“Black people […] erected the monument to Lee and when the time comes, they will be there to take it down.”
From construction to dismantling
Henry received the life-changing call in the middle of a business meeting in early June 2020. He initially ignored it, but his phone kept ringing, and a friend advised him to give following.
On the other end of the line was Clark Mercer, the chief of staff of Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor at the time, who made him a crazy proposition: would his company agree to supervise the dismantling of the giant statue of Lee which stood on Monument Avenue, on state-owned land?
Henry had never thought of anything like that. His company was building things and preparing the sites before the work.
Except there was change in the air. In reaction, among other things, to the Unite the Right demonstration which had [trois morts] in Charlottesville in 2017, the state legislature passed legislation in early 2020 that allowed municipalities to remove Confederate statues. In May, the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police sparked racial justice protests across the country. In Richmond, they had concentrated on Monument Avenue, with its iconic monuments.
Ralph Northam decided it was time to act. Demonstrators and police clashed every night. He wanted to hurry.
“Openly racist” refusals
Mercer and Henry had met before at an event at Norfolk State University, where Henry was educated. Mercer confessed to having contacted him because he was desperate: everyone had refused.
“I did not hide that we could not find anyone to take charge of this site”, he says in an interview. Responses from other companies had been “openly racist” even threatening.
Henry had never really paid attention to Confederate monuments. As a child, he attended Robert E. Lee Elementary School, but that name meant little to him. He had bigger problems.
His mother was only 16 when he was born, in Lumberton, North Carolina. She moved to Hampton Roads and began working at various McDonald’s restaurants to support and feed her baby. Devon Henry does the same from the age of 14.
His mother for example
He has good grades in school and is pursuing a university education. After a degree in biology, he felt attracted to business and joined General Electric’s management program. He works in the infrastructure division while doing a master’s degree at the company’s expense. He delves into the biographies of great entrepreneurs – like McDonald’s Ray Kroc [qu’il a transformé en marque mondiale].
During this time,
