Ever since a racially motivated mass shooting of a church occurred in Charleston, South Carolina two years ago, there’s been a widespread campaign to remove statues and flags that have Confederate origins. That campaign continues to this day in New Orleans, where multiple monuments to Confederate icons and events were ordered to be taken down in 2015, despite the protests of many white southerners who felt that their history was being demolished.
Now the city is following through on its promise to tear down these monuments. On April 24th, which is often celebrated as Confederate memorial day in many Southern states, the New Orleans city government removed an obelisk that commemorates the Battle of Liberty Place. The battle took place several years after the Civil War ended, and was fought by a paramilitary group called the Crescent City White League against local police forces, in an attempt to overthrow the Reconstruction Louisiana state government.
The monument was taken down unannounced and in the middle of the night, by contractors who wore masks to protect their identities. Protesters arrived on the scene at midnight once they heard that monument was being taken down, but by 1:30 AM they had dispersed. Police then set up barricades to keep anyone else away, and posted snipers on a nearby building.
The next day, the president of a group called the Monumental Task Committee, spoke out against the decision to tear down the monument. “This secretive removal under the cloak of darkness, outside of the public bid, masked contractors, and using unidentified money wreaks of atrocious government.”
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu defended his decision to take down the monument under these conditions, and claimed that “intimidation and threats by people who don’t want the statues down” forced him to do it at night and without notice. He called the obelisk a monument to “White supremacists” and proclaimed that “We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal.”
The obelisk has since been placed in storage, where it will soon be joined by memorials to President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General P.G.T. Beauregard. Landrieu hasn’t said when the monuments will be removed, but said that they may be placed in a museum at a later date.
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