Some wary of City Hall’s motives on Confederate statues issue
4th January 2016 · 0 Comments
With 10 days to go before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier hears a legal challenge to the City of New Orleans’ efforts to remove the Liberty Monument and statues of three Confederate leaders from public spaces, the countdown is on as the city also prepares to mark the National Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. But while some are pleased that the City of New Orleans is finally talking about taking down these monuments that many in this majority-Black city have called offensive, others question the Landrieu administration’s motives for putting the issue up for public debate, particularly in the wake of reports that New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is quietly seeking to change the City Charter in order to run for a third term at the helm of City Hall.
Before the New Orleans City Council voted 6-1 to remove the Confederate-era statues after months of heated debate, at least two council members — Stacy Head and Latoya Cantrell — questioned the mayor’s motives for introducing the proposal, arguing that removal of these monuments wasn’t an issue among the people of New Orleans until Mayor Landrieu made it an issue.
During a gathering this past June, Landrieu brought up the possibility of removing the Confederate-era monuments before the city celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2018. The issue has sharply divided residents, prompting a number of Black leaders, including the Rev. Tom Watson, to ask whether the issue is a diversionary tactic being used by the Landrieu administration to distract residents from more pressing issues like the rising tide of violent crime, educational apartheid, high unemployment among Black men, environmental racism and unconstitutional policing.
In October, Watson and a coalition of area ministers called Pastors for a Better New Orleans sharply criticized the Landrieu administration for what it called a lack of racial sensitivity and inclusion.
In addition to referring to Landrieu as a “Goliath,” Watson said, “We are more divided under his leadership than at any other time. He is one of the most divisive mayors in history.”
The Rev. Raymond Brown, a community activist and president of National Action Now, fold The Louisiana Weekly Tuesday that the mayor has failed to meet the needs of Black New Orleans and should by no means be granted a third term.
“Not only does he not deserve a third term, I think he should resign right now,” Brown said. “He has said nothing about police abuse in New Orleans, has not done anything about discrimination against minority contractors for City Hall contracts, has not improved public safety and refuses to provide a real job-training program for Black males who dropped out of school.
“As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t even deserve to finish out his second term.”
One elder resident who spoke with The Louisiana Weekly on the condition of anonymity said she doesn’t know if the mayor crafted a plan to use the Confederate statues issue to get a third term but said she believes that the city is wasting too much time trying to remove the monuments.
“I understand why some people would like to see them come down because they are disrespectful,” she told The Louisiana Weekly. “But I say leave them right where they are. Let the world see how backwards and racist the City of New Orleans is. Those monuments are a direct reflection on the people who continue to run this city and their priorities.
“Let those monuments stay right where they are so that we can be constantly reminded of what we are up against,” she added.
Earlier in 2015, a number of groups including the New Orleans affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference called on the City of New Orleans to return a statue of legendary civil rights leader the Rev. Avery C. Alexander to its place of prominence in Duncan Plaza near City Hall. The statue was taken down and placed in a warehouse several years ago for safe storage while the State Building was being demolished. It has yet to be restored to its former site and the City of New Orleans has not indicated when that will happen.
“If the City of New Orleans cannot even find the time to bring the statue of ‘Rev’ back to Duncan Plaza, why should we buy anything the Landrieu administration is saying about these Confederate statues?” New Orleans resident Seti Selassie told The Louisiana Weekly. “It just doesn’t add up.”
The legal challenge to efforts to bring down the statues will take place in federal court on Friday, Jan. 14, three days before the National MLK Jr. Holiday.
Some residents and activists say it’s important that Black New Orleans not allow itself to be sidetracked or sandbagged by the Confederate monuments issue.
“We should not forget that nothing was done to bring down these statues when Black mayors held the top post in City Hall for 30 years,” Amina Patterson, a Ninth Ward resident, told The Louisiana Weekly. “It wasn’t a priority then and my every instinct tells me that it’s really not a priority now. This is all just one big dog-and-pony show. The same families that were running New Orleans in the 18th century are still running the city and calling the shots. Like Louis Armstrong once said about New Orleans, ‘Ain’t nothing changed — the white man is still running things.’”
“It’s funny how these preservationists and historical societies are always looking to save monuments to white supremacy and white domination but have no problem trampling over Black historical landmarks in this city and across the country,” Gentilly resident Stephanie Allen said. “They get misty-eyed about preserving 18th- and 19th-century homes that were built for whites by enslaved Africans but have no problem tearing down historical Black landmarks, closing Black schools, tearing up Black neighborhoods like Tremé with the Claiborne overpass or building the 1-10 above the Bonnet Carre Spillway, where the bones of our African ancestors are buried.
“New Orleans has never shown any respect for the historical legacy of Black people in this city unless they stumble across something they can make a buck off of,” she added.
“It would be great to see these monuments to white supremacy come down, but whether they do or not, we still have many battles to fight against things like income inequality, excessive force by the NOPD, destruction of the city’s public school system by outsiders, gentrification, corruption in the criminal justice system and systemic racism,” Ramessu Merriamen Aha, a New Orleans businessman and former congressional candidate, told The Louisiana Weekly. “Regardless of what happens on January 14 in federal court, we got some serious work to do in New Orleans.”
This article originally published in the January 4, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
