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April 25, 2017

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New Orleans removes first of 4 controversial Confederate statues

WORKERS in New Orleans removed the first of four prominent Confederate monuments yesterday, making the city the latest Southern institution to sever itself from symbols viewed by many as a representation of racism and white supremacy.

The Liberty Place monument, which commemorates whites who tried to topple a biracial post-Civil War government in New Orleans, was taken away on a truck in pieces.

At a news conference hours after the statue was dismantled, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu vowed that “we will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal in the heart of our city.”

The removal happened early in the morning in a bid to avoid disruption from supporters who want the monuments to stay, some of whom city officials said have made death threats.

Workers who took the monument down yesterday could be seen wearing bulletproof vests, military-style helmets and scarves that obscured their faces. Police were also on hand, including officers who watched the area from atop the parking garage of a nearby hotel.

“The statue was put up to honor the killing of police officers by white supremacists,” Landrieu said at a news conference. “Of the four that we will move, this statue is perhaps the most blatant affront to the values that make America and New Orleans strong today.”

Three other statues to Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis will be removed in later days now that legal challenges have been overcome. The mayor would not say when that will happen for safety reasons, since “intimidation and threats from people who don’t want these monuments down have been intense.”

“There’s a better way to use the property these monuments are on and a way that better reflects who we are,” Landrieu said in an interview on Sunday with The Associated Press.

Nationally, the debate over Confederate symbols has become heated since nine parishioners were killed at a black church in South Carolina in June 2015. South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its statehouse grounds in the weeks after, and several Southern cities have since considered removing monuments. The University of Mississippi took down its state flag because it includes the Confederate emblem.

New Orleans is a majority African-American city although the number of black residents has fallen since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina drove many people from the city.




 

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