In the days following violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia over a Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue, a Change.org petition to replace a Confederate statue in Portsmouth with a statue of rapper Missy Elliott has emerged.

White supremacists flooded the streets of Charlottesville last week where a violent attack carried out by 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. resulted in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injured 19 others. Petition maker Nathan Coflin wants to take down the monuments commemorating the Confederacy and celebrate a Portsmouth native that did not fight to preserve slavery.

“Getting this statue put up will be a lot of work and you may ask yourself is it worth it?” wrote Coflin. “I say yes and ask you to join me in letting us work it. Together we can put white supremacy down, flip it and reverse it.”

So far, the petition has gained a massive number of supporters. There are 11,448 supporters and 3,552 needed to reach 15,000 to present to the Portsmouth Mayor John Rowe.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper, who is known for hits including “Work It,” “Get Ur Freak On” and “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” was born and raised Melissa Arnette Elliott on July 1, 1971. Her parents were a power company dispatcher and a Portsmouth Naval Shipyard welder. Missy is also a frequent collaborator with Norfolk-born Timbaland (born Timothy Moseley), Virginia Beach’s own Pharrell Williams and the late R&B songstress Aaliyah.

"Let us come together in getting City Council to erect this statue in honor of Missy Elliott and all those in the great City of Portsmouth who work it each and every day," Coflin wrote. "Ycamerpus Etihw! Missy is all of us. Missy is everything the Confederacy was not."