New Orleans begins removing second Confederate monument

CNN

As police stood between two opposing crowds, a crew lifted a statute of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis from its pedestal before dawn Thursday in New Orleans — the latest in a contentious plan to dismantle four Confederate monuments in the city.

It’s the second Confederate monument to come down after the New Orleans city council voted to remove the four landmarks back in 2015. After years of heated public debate and legal battles, recent court decisions paved the way for the city to relocate the four monuments.

Dozens of people — a crowd of monument supporters, and a crowd supporting its removal — gathered at the Davis statue early Thursday before it was removed, at times screaming insults and threats at each other. Police separated the sides with barriers.

The statue was lifted from its pedestal shortly after 5 a.m. CT Thursday.

As the statue was lifted shortly after 5 a.m. (6 a.m. ET), those who wanted it removed cheered, and sang the chorus from “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.” One person held a sign that read, “Bout Time.” The monument’s supporters at that point watched mostly in silence, some holding up Confederate banners.

Earlier, some monument supporters chanted, “President Davis;” one man saluted the statue.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long it would take workers to remove the pedestal.

The statues in New Orleans are part of a controversy surrounding Confederate symbols, which some say represent slavery and racial injustice. Supporters say they represent history and heritage. The issue became especially prominent after the massacre of nine black parishioners in a Charleston, South Carolina, church by a self-described white supremacist in 2015.

Supporters of the Davis monument wave Confederate and American flags Thursday morning before the statue's removal.

“These monuments have stood not as historic or educational markers of our legacy of slavery and segregation, but in celebration of it,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu in a statement.

Jefferson Davis statue dedicated in 1911

The Davis statue stood on top of a roughly 12-foot column, and depicted the Confederate president with his right arm outstretched, towering over the street also named after him.

Davis lived in New Orleans after the Civil War and died there in 1889. The statue was dedicated in 1911.

In 2004, the words “slave owner” were painted on the base of the monument.

How they extracted the statue

Police had cordoned off the 6-foot tall bronze statue of Davis with a chain-link fence to keep protesters out.

Workers prepare to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis.

Workers wore helmets as well as what appeared to be tactical vests and face masks. Cardboard and tape covered contractors’ names on equipment involved in the controversial operation — the same methods used during the first Confederate landmark removal on April 24.

The Jefferson Davis statue is wrapped in plastic and tied for removal.

Around 4 a.m., two workers approached the Davis statue in a work lift and wrapped part of it in green plastic.

They tied the statue’s torso with yellow straps, securing it to a crane. One worker dislodged the statue’s base from the column using a long flat tool.

A worker chisels away at the statue's feet to release it from the base.

Two more statues scheduled for removal

Masked workers dismantle the Battle of Liberty Place monument in New Orleans on April 24, 2017.

Last month, the city dismantled the first of its four monuments scheduled for removal — an obelisk commemorating the Battle of Liberty Place. The monument marked a deadly fight between members of the “Crescent City White League,” a group opposed to the city’s biracial police force, and state militia after the Civil War.

The statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee stands in Lee Circle in New Orleans in September 2015.

The remaining two monuments — those of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard — are also scheduled for relocation.

A statue of P.G.T. Beauregard is seen at the entrance to City Park at Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans in September 2015.

A statue of P.G.T. Beauregard is seen at the entrance to City Park at Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans in September 2015.

Landrieu’s office has not revealed when the two remaining statues will come down.

Dana Farley of New Orleans participates in a candlelight vigil at the statue of Jefferson Davis in New Orleans on Monday, April 24, 2017.

The mayor’s office said the city has secured private funding to remove the moments. Landrieu said the statues will be put in storage while the city looks for a suitable place to display them, such as a museum.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/us/new-orleans-confederate-monument-removal/

4 thoughts on “New Orleans begins removing second Confederate monument

  1. Call me crazy but I say smash the Guidestones. Eye for an eye, right? I don’t see the difference to the point I feel free openly talking about it, if they are destroying our history we should destroy them, come on boys of LA, where is your fortitude? They are punking you…

  2. “… the statues will be put in storage while the city looks for a suitable place to display them, such as a museum.”

    THE WH LAWN WOULD BE A SUITABLE PLACE!!!

    Remind the bast@rds DAILY of their treason! 😡

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