вЂњIt takes courage to put yourself out front and expose not only your business, not only your reputation, but also your family as well,вЂќ said RichmondвЂ™s mayor, Levar Stoney, who used his emergency powers to award the contract. And some contractors refused to get involved because they were worried about potential backlash and the safety of their crews, according to emails and other public records reviewed by The New York Times. But finding a qualified firm that could build a team with all of the necessary equipment and expertise was challenging from the outset. Frustrated protesters had already begun trying to pull down some of the statues, and the city said that posed immediate safety risks.Д¬ity officials said that they made dozens of calls to contractors up and down the East Coast. But in the meantime, the city of Richmond decided it was time to remove its Confederate iconography. Henry thought for a day, then agreed to take the job.Д«ecause of a legal dispute, it would be more than a year before the Lee statue could be removed. He knew that in New Orleans, a contractor with an agreement to take down city monuments had his car destroyed in a fire and that in Charlottesville, a rally to protest that cityвЂ™s plan to take down its own statue of Lee had led to violence. Henry talked to his family and his staff. From an entry level job at McDonaldвЂ™s, she worked her way up the golden arches, and eventually came to own five of the fast-food franchises. Henry credits his mother, who was 16 and living in public housing when she had him, with instilling in him a sense of drive and commitment. I thought about the people - the shoulders that Devon stood on, to do the job he was doing.вЂќ HenryвЂ™s mother, Freda Thornton, said she, too, recognized the significance of her sonвЂ™s role and came to watch him work. In an issue published that year, John Mitchell Jr., the editor of The Richmond Planet, a Black newspaper, wrote of the Black manвЂ™s role in the statueвЂ™s history: вЂњHe put up the Lee monument, and should the time come, will be there to take it down.вЂќ In dismantling the Lee statue, he said, some suggested he was fulfilling a prophecy from 1890.

But the removals are more than just a way to boost his bottom line. Henry has become one of the most reliable contractors willing and able to take on the work.

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