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By Matthew Dessem
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“The city of New Orleans removed a monument to Robert E. Lee on Friday [May 19], the last of four monuments to the Confederacy the city council voted to remove in 2015, and Mayor Mitch Landrieu marked the occasion with a blunt speech about his city’s need to confront its past. “The Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity,” Landrieu told an audience at Gallier Hall, contrasting New Orleans’ multi cultural history with the ideals of the Confederacy. Landrieu dismissed claims that men like Lee, Jefferson Davis, or P.G.T. Beauregard—all of whom were depicted on the recently removed monuments—were worthy of the honor . . . .
“’It is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America. They fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this case, they were not patriots. … The Civil War is over, and the Confederacy lost and we are better for it. Surely we are far enough removed from this dark time to acknowledge that the cause of the Confederacy was wrong,’ said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. ‘Instead of revering a 4-year brief historical aberration that was called the Confederacy, we can celebrate all 300 years of our rich, diverse history as a place named New Orleans, and set the tone for the next 300 years.’"
“In defense of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Trump questioned the removal Confederate monuments. I was reminded of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's powerful speech on why these symbols of hatred and violence must come down. -- Robert Reich
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu explains why four Confederate monuments had to be torn down.
