Tribute to racist attack removed in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — 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.
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 statue was put up to honor the killing of police officers by white supremacists,” Landrieu said.
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, S.C., 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 majority-black City Council voted 6-1 in 2015 to take the monuments down, but legal battles held up action.