New Orleans Mayor: Another Civil War Monument Removal Helps ‘Stand Up to Hate’

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – Upon taking down the third Civil War-era monument, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the process of removing four historical was necessary to “stand up to hate.”

The famous equestrian P.G.T Beauregard monument at the heart of New Orleans’ City Park, across from the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), was removed by city employees in the middle of the night, marking the third time the City has removed a Civil War-era monument in the last two months.

In a statement on the removal of the P.G.T. Beauregard monument, Landrieu said that by removing the statue, the city would no longer be supporting “white supremacy.”

“Today we take another step in defining our City not by our past but by our bright future,” Landrieu said in the statement. “While we must honor our history, we will not allow the Confederacy to be put on a pedestal in the heart of New Orleans. As we near our City’s 300th anniversary, we must continue to find courage to stand up to hate and embrace justice and compassion.”

What it looked like when the statue of PGT Beauregard was removed pic.twitter.com/hErJGHt485

— Matt Sledge (@mgsledge) May 17, 2017

BREAKING: The PGT Beauregard monument is gone. @FOX8NOLA pic.twitter.com/Qh5Ea6iQcX

— Rob Krieger (@Rob_Krieger) May 17, 2017

Landrieu has been criticized by activists with the pro-monument group Save Our Circle for funding the removal of public monuments with private donations that have never been officially disclosed. Due to the lack of transparency, rumors and scandal have engulfed the process.

The plan to remove Civil War-era monuments in New Orleans came almost two years ago after Landrieu said he wanted four monuments removed: the Jefferson Davis, Liberty Place, the P.G.T Beauregard, and the General Robert E. Lee in the heart of the city.

Landrieu and supporters of his plan pleaded with the Democrat-controlled city council that the monuments represented racism and white supremacy, while local history professors and opponents said the City acts a public history museum to tourists and locals and should be preserved.

The issue is a slippery-slope for New Orleans, as there are dozens more Civil War-era monuments, whom Black Lives Matter-aligned groups are now demanding be removed. The most famous monument left-wing groups are targeting is the President Andrew Jackson monument which sits at the center for the city’s French Quarter.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.