This Supa Dupa Fly Petition Wants to Replace a Virginia Confederate Statue with Missy Elliott’s Likeness

By Sameer Rao Aug 21, 2017

If you a fly gal, get your nails done, get a pedicure—get an honorary statue to replace the Confederate monument in your hometown.

That’s the proposal that Virginia resident Nathan Coflin proposes in a Change.org petition launched five days ago (August 16). Reflecting a nationwide trend after the deadly violence surrounding White supremacist groups’ Charlottesville rallies earlier this month, Coflin’s petition advocates replacing a Confederate soldiers’ memorial in Portsmouth, Virginia, with one of local hero Missy Elliott. His Change.org explanation says it all:

We believe it is time to finally replace the Confederate Monument in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia, near the intersection of Court and High Streets with a new statue of a true Portsmouth native hero. Who better to encapsulate the culture and spirit of the city enshrined in a new monument than Grammy Award winning rapper, dancer and record producer Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott?

Before she was "Missy Misdemeanor" she was Melissa Arnette Elliott, born on July 1, 1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. Hailing from humble beginnings as the only child of a power company dispatcher and a welder at Portsmouth’s lauded naval shipyard, she rose to become a platinum recording artist with over 30-million albums sold. All this without even once owning a slave.

The chart-topping rapper and artist has not yet commented on the petition, which had more than 22,000 signatures as of press time. It directs its message at Portsmouth mayor John L. Rowe, vice mayor Paige Cherry and city council members Bill Moody Jr., Elizabeth Psimas, Mark Whitaker, Nathan Clark and Lisa Lucas-Burke.

Visit Change.org to sign the petition.