From The Roanoke Times:
Why would a legislator file a bill to do something he doesn’t want done?
With all of the talk about taking down statues, Walker decided to file his bill about Byrd. He acknowledged it was more tit-for-tat rather than about a statue memorializing Byrd, who is well-known for his painful role in Virginia’s history.
Byrd is considered the architect of Massive Resistance, a set of policies that aggressively pushed back against racial integration of public schools following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
“If we’re going to do this, then I’m going to request to remove the Harry Byrd statue,” Walker said. “He was a Democrat and advocated for Massive Resistance.”
Quite a few Democrats said they looked forward to voting for Walker’s bill.
“I’d love to vote for the bill,” said Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax.
Walker didn’t want the Byrd statue taken down, so he requested that it no longer be considered by the legislature.