While New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) is determined to take the city into a more inclusive future, others insist on keeping it tied to an oppressive past—a past reflective of bigotry, hatred and white supremacy. Though the city began dismantling its controversial confederate monuments last week, it’s been a battle from the beginning. Last year, one of the contractors originally hired to remove the monuments was subjected to death threats. Then his Lamborghini was found on fire in the parking lot of his business. Soon after, he opted out of the job. Can you blame him?
[David Mahler and his lawyer said] they fear — in light of the past threats — that the car was intentionally torched.
Mahler’s lawyer, Roy Maughan Jr., said threats had been made against H&O, its employees and Mahler and his family. Threats had diminished since [an] announcement that H&O wouldn’t do the work.
Now that a year has passed, new contractors have been found and the monuments are coming down. However, the city has had to work hard to protect the identities of the public employees and contractors who are working on this effort. This has been no small feat. Opponents are working hard to try to identify those involved in order to harass them. There are blogs, like this one, which show the names and faces of those workers. These are all over social media. There have numerous threats and property damage resulting in police involvement. There have been videos taken of workers at night overseeing the removal of the monuments. One person even tweeted out Mayor Landrieu’s personal address. And, of course, what’s a racist incident in Louisiana without David Duke getting involved? The former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and devotee of white nationalists such as Republican congressman from Iowa Steve King and Steve Bannon has also weighed in. He’s been posting the name and information of the contractors on his Twitter feed.
Most recently, on Saturday, a man from Mississippi was arrested after threatening to shoot Mitch Landrieu and others. He called the Louisiana lieutenant governor’s office (you may remember him, he’s the one who wrote to Trump asking for help to keep the monuments in tact) and insisted that he was going to come and stand in front of the monuments with his guns to protect them. Obviously, this guy has a lot of free time on his hands.
But, despite the opposition, Mayor Landrieu remains undeterred. When asked about the backlash, he told Daily Kos this:
"The people of New Orleans will not cower to the vile threats and actions of few who cling to a backward and violent past. We will use all due caution to ensure the safety of the public and workers during the removal of the additional monuments. When removal of all of them is completed, our city will stand stronger and more united than ever before.”
Even though they are bearing the brunt of extreme hate and violence right now, we should all send gratitude to Mayor Landrieu and the public employees and contractors involved in this effort. They are on the right side of progress and history—even if some very backward white supremacists want to desperately cling to a time which should be long gone and buried.