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Take 'Em Down NOLA renews call to remove more icons of Confederates, slave owners in New Orleans
http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_7a9fd888-836d-11e7-94f5-7fe6ac0d22a9.htmlThe group Take 'Em Down NOLA on Thursday renewed its call to eliminate more monuments celebrating slave owners and Confederate officials in New Orleans as other cities around the country have begun removing their own statues in response to the attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The group is seeking the removal of 13 statues in the city, including the equestrian monument to Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square. That monument, which commemorates Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, has been a particular target of the group because Jackson owned slaves and, as president, was responsible for violently forcing Native Americans off their land in what came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
The group also wants the city to rename dozens of streets, buildings and institutions. In all, there are more than 100 symbols it wants removed or renamed.
White supremacists, many waving Nazi flags and chanting racist slogans, turned out in record numbers in Charlottesville last week to protest plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. The event turned deadly when one pro-monument protester rammed his car into a group of counter-demonstrators, killing a woman and injuring nearly 20 other people.
In the wake of the attack, other local governments around the country have quickly begun taking down Confederate statues. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said the monuments should remain and has equivocated over who was to blame for the violence.
Take 'Em Down organizer Malcolm Suber and members of his group said at a news conference Thursday that the city's recent removal of its statues of Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard and a monument to the white supremacist White League militia should be only the beginning.
The organization is asking the City Council to pass an ordinance mandating the removal of any monuments to slave owners and the renaming of any streets, parks or schools that honor them.
The group is seeking the removal of 13 statues in the city, including the equestrian monument to Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square. That monument, which commemorates Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, has been a particular target of the group because Jackson owned slaves and, as president, was responsible for violently forcing Native Americans off their land in what came to be known as the Trail of Tears.
The group also wants the city to rename dozens of streets, buildings and institutions. In all, there are more than 100 symbols it wants removed or renamed.
White supremacists, many waving Nazi flags and chanting racist slogans, turned out in record numbers in Charlottesville last week to protest plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. The event turned deadly when one pro-monument protester rammed his car into a group of counter-demonstrators, killing a woman and injuring nearly 20 other people.
In the wake of the attack, other local governments around the country have quickly begun taking down Confederate statues. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said the monuments should remain and has equivocated over who was to blame for the violence.
Take 'Em Down organizer Malcolm Suber and members of his group said at a news conference Thursday that the city's recent removal of its statues of Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard and a monument to the white supremacist White League militia should be only the beginning.
The organization is asking the City Council to pass an ordinance mandating the removal of any monuments to slave owners and the renaming of any streets, parks or schools that honor them.
New Orleans continues to be ahead of the curve. Confederate statues are the easy part, but it must not end there. Andrew Jackson will be a big test, and pushback must be expected. But the Andrew Jackson statue must and will come down, and the square must and will be renamed. If we can accomplish that, we can accomplish anything.