Are big changes on the horizon for this well-known area in New Orleans?
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has a plan to remove some of the
more controversial Confederate tributes around New Orleans:
Last week, Landrieu instructed the city council to begin the legal process to remove statues of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy; General Robert E Lee; General PGT Beauregard; and a monument honoring soldiers in the Battle of Liberty Place, an uprising of former Confederate soldiers in 1874. Landrieu also wants Jefferson Davis Parkway renamed to honor Dr Norman C Francis, the long-time president of Xavier University, an all-black Catholic institution.
Landrieu, the first white mayor of New Orleans since his father, Moon Landrieu, who left office in 1978, says the statuary does not represent a city rebounding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina into one he insists is more inclusive of all races and identities.
From Mayor Landrieu's
statement:
“This is about more than the men represented in these statues. This discussion is about whether these monuments, built to reinforce the false valor of a war fought over slavery, ever really belonged in a city as great as New Orleans whose lifeblood flows from our diversity and inclusiveness,” said Mayor Landrieu. “Our history before and after the Civil War should not be neglected, nor our identity defined by the Confederacy – our identity is much broader and richer than these symbols. As we look to our city’s tricentennial celebration in 2018, we should be a city where symbols inspire and include, not divide; and, a place a where we celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not death, war and slavery. Supremacy may be a part of our past, but it should not be part of our future.”
The time is right to move on:
“We should not erase or uproot our past, and we should remember these important historical figures and moments in the right context. But, for example, I don’t believe Gen. Robert E. Lee’s place in the history of New Orleans should be revered,” said Mayor Landrieu. “It would be better for all our children, black and white, to see symbols in prominent places in our city that make them feel proud of their city and inspire them to greatness. We should do our part to remove these symbols of supremacy from places of reverence that no longer, if ever, reflect who we are. The moral arc of the history bends as it usually does, towards justice. But it does not bend on its own. That is left to us.”