New Orleans takes down white
supremacist monument
JESSE J.
HOLLAND and GERALD HERBERT
Associated PressApril
24, 2017
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A monument to a deadly white-supremacist
uprising in 1874 was removed under cover of darkness by workers in masks and
bulletproof vests Monday as New Orleans joined the movement to take down
symbols of the Confederacy and the Jim Crow South.
The Liberty Place monument, a 35-foot granite obelisk that pays
tribute to whites who tried to topple a biracial Reconstruction government
installed in New Orleans after the Civil War, was taken away on a truck in
pieces before daybreak after a few hours of work.
In the coming days, the city will also remove three statues of
Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederate President
Jefferson Davis, now that legal challenges have been overcome.
"We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be
put on a pedestal in the heart of our city," Mayor Mitch Landrieu vowed.
The removal of the obelisk was carried out early in the morning
because of death threats and fears of disruption from supporters of the
monuments. The workers wore military-style helmets and had scarves over
their faces. Police were on hand, with officers watching from atop a hotel
parking garage.
"The statue was put up to honor the killing of police
officers by white supremacists," Landrieu said. "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."
Citing safety concerns, the mayor would not disclose exactly when
the other monuments would be taken down, except to say that it will be done at
night to avoid trouble. He said the monuments will be put in storage until an
appropriate place to display them is determined. Nationally, the debate over Confederate symbols has flared since
nine black parishioners were shot to death by an avowed racist at a church in
Charleston, South Carolina, in 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 mostly black city of nearly 390,000. The
majority-black City Council voted 6-1 in 2015 to take the monuments down, but
legal battles held up action. Landrieu, a white Democrat, proposed the monuments' removal and
rode to victory twice with overwhelming support from the city's black
residents.
Opponents of the memorials say they are offensive artifacts honoring
the region's racist past. Others say the monuments are part of history and
should be preserved. Robert Bonner, a 63-year-old Civil War re-enactor, was there to
protest the monument's removal.
"I think it's a terrible thing," he said. "When
you start removing the history of the city, you start losing money. You start
losing where you came from and where you've been."
The Monumental Task Committee, which sued to preserve the
memorials, condemned the middle-of-the-night removal as "atrocious
government."
The Liberty Place monument was erected in 1891 to commemorate
the failed uprising by the Crescent City White League. Sixteen White Leaguers, 13 members of the white and black
Metropolitan police force and six bystanders were among those killed in the
bloody battle down Canal Street. President Ulysses Grant sent federal troops to take the city
back three days later. However, the White League grew in power in New Orleans
after the battle, with its members and allies taking over the city and state
government after Reconstruction.
An inscription added in 1932 said the Yankees withdrew federal
troops and "recognized white supremacy in the South" after the
uprising. In 1993, those words were covered by a granite slab with a new
inscription, saying the obelisk honors "Americans on both sides" who
died and that the conflict "should teach us lessons for the future."
New Orleans removed the memorial from busy Canal Street during a
paving project in 1989 and didn't put it back up until the city was sued. Even
then, it was consigned to an obscure spot on a side street.
Landrieu said the memorials don't represent his city as it
approaches its 300th anniversary next year.
Removing the monuments is "not about blame," the mayor
said. Rather, he said, it's about "showing the whole world that we as a
city and as people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile and — most
importantly — choose a better future, making straight what has been crooked and
right what has been wrong."
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