Workers don bulletproof vests while taking down New Orleans’ Confederate monument
Workers in New Orleans on Monday began removing the first of four Confederate monuments known as the “Lost Cause of the Confederacy.” They took down a statue originally erected to honor members of a white supremacist organization who fought against racial integration within the city’s police force and state militia.
The roughly four-hour removal process for the Battle of Liberty Place monument began at 1:30 a.m. in an effort to avoid protesters who want the monuments to stay, including people who have in the past made death threats.
“The removal of these statues sends a clear and unequivocal message to the people of New Orleans and the nation: New Orleans celebrates our diversity, inclusion and tolerance,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said, according to a press release. “Relocating these Confederate monuments is not about taking something away from someone else.
This is not about politics, blame or retaliation.”
“This is not a naive quest to solve all our problems at once,” Landrieu added. “This is about showing the whole world that we as a city and as a people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile — and most importantly — choose a better future.”
The statue was erected in 1891 to honor the 16 members of the Crescent City White League, a group of all-white, mostly Confederate veterans, who died during an insurrection against the racially-integrated New Orleans Metropolitan police force. Thirteen police and state militia and six bystanders were also killed.
City workers who took the monument down were seen “wearing bulletproof vests, military-style helmets and scarves that obscured their faces,” according to the Associated Press. Police were also present to barricade the entry points to the monument while snipers were stationed on the parking garage of a hotel overlooking the monument.
“Due to safety concerns, we believed it was very important to take all necessary precautions to protect the safety of all personnel involved in the operation,” Tyronne B. Walker, Senior Advisor and Communications Director for Mayor Landrieu, told ThinkProgress in a statement.
Three other statues in honor of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard are slated for eventual removal. Because of the “security risk and threats placed on contractors seeking to do the work,” city government said it would not provide additional details about future statue removals.
The city had decided to keep the names of bidding contractors a secret after receiving a slew of death threats and harassment. One contractor pulled out in 2015 after receiving threatening phone calls and having his car torched. Couzan Services, LLC was the only bidder for the removal contract, asking $600,000 for its services, or more than three times the city’s budget for the monuments’ removal.
The statues will remain in storage while the City of New Orleans finds a museum or another facility for them. The city announced Monday it was able to secure private funding to relocate all four statues.
The removal of the statues has been at least two years in the making. In 2015, Landrieu signed an ordinance supporting their removal from public property and relocation. City Council members then voted 6–1 in support of the ordinance in 2016. And the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana supported the City’s right to take down the monuments in March.
New Orleans — which has a 60.2 percent majority African-American population — has been among several Southern cities facing a showdown over Confederate symbols in recent years. That debate was ignited after Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, murdered nine African American parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. The state of South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds soon after the horrific incident. And the University of Mississippi similarly followed suit, taking down the state flag containing the Confederate symbol.
The “Battle of Liberty Place” monument’s removal came on the same day that state government offices closed in Alabama and Mississippi in commemoration of Confederate Memorial Day. Georgia’s Gov. Phil Bryant signed a proclamation to declare April 2017 as Confederate Heritage Month, to “honor those who served in the confederacy.”
Update: The piece was updated to include a statement from Tyronne B. Walker regarding safety precautions taken by workers.
source
[youtube]5_LlN9H0Nxo[/youtube]
Workers in New Orleans on Monday began removing the first of four Confederate monuments known as the “Lost Cause of the Confederacy.” They took down a statue originally erected to honor members of a white supremacist organization who fought against racial integration within the city’s police force and state militia.
The roughly four-hour removal process for the Battle of Liberty Place monument began at 1:30 a.m. in an effort to avoid protesters who want the monuments to stay, including people who have in the past made death threats.
“The removal of these statues sends a clear and unequivocal message to the people of New Orleans and the nation: New Orleans celebrates our diversity, inclusion and tolerance,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said, according to a press release. “Relocating these Confederate monuments is not about taking something away from someone else.
This is not about politics, blame or retaliation.”
“This is not a naive quest to solve all our problems at once,” Landrieu added. “This is about showing the whole world that we as a city and as a people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile — and most importantly — choose a better future.”
The statue was erected in 1891 to honor the 16 members of the Crescent City White League, a group of all-white, mostly Confederate veterans, who died during an insurrection against the racially-integrated New Orleans Metropolitan police force. Thirteen police and state militia and six bystanders were also killed.
City workers who took the monument down were seen “wearing bulletproof vests, military-style helmets and scarves that obscured their faces,” according to the Associated Press. Police were also present to barricade the entry points to the monument while snipers were stationed on the parking garage of a hotel overlooking the monument.
“Due to safety concerns, we believed it was very important to take all necessary precautions to protect the safety of all personnel involved in the operation,” Tyronne B. Walker, Senior Advisor and Communications Director for Mayor Landrieu, told ThinkProgress in a statement.
Three other statues in honor of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard are slated for eventual removal. Because of the “security risk and threats placed on contractors seeking to do the work,” city government said it would not provide additional details about future statue removals.
The city had decided to keep the names of bidding contractors a secret after receiving a slew of death threats and harassment. One contractor pulled out in 2015 after receiving threatening phone calls and having his car torched. Couzan Services, LLC was the only bidder for the removal contract, asking $600,000 for its services, or more than three times the city’s budget for the monuments’ removal.
The statues will remain in storage while the City of New Orleans finds a museum or another facility for them. The city announced Monday it was able to secure private funding to relocate all four statues.
The removal of the statues has been at least two years in the making. In 2015, Landrieu signed an ordinance supporting their removal from public property and relocation. City Council members then voted 6–1 in support of the ordinance in 2016. And the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana supported the City’s right to take down the monuments in March.
New Orleans — which has a 60.2 percent majority African-American population — has been among several Southern cities facing a showdown over Confederate symbols in recent years. That debate was ignited after Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, murdered nine African American parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. The state of South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds soon after the horrific incident. And the University of Mississippi similarly followed suit, taking down the state flag containing the Confederate symbol.
The “Battle of Liberty Place” monument’s removal came on the same day that state government offices closed in Alabama and Mississippi in commemoration of Confederate Memorial Day. Georgia’s Gov. Phil Bryant signed a proclamation to declare April 2017 as Confederate Heritage Month, to “honor those who served in the confederacy.”
Update: The piece was updated to include a statement from Tyronne B. Walker regarding safety precautions taken by workers.
source
[youtube]5_LlN9H0Nxo[/youtube]
