澳彩开奖

After more than a century on public property in New Orleans, The Liberty Monument was by construction workers clad in body armor and masks. The monument was erected to honor a bloody uprising in which members of the White League 鈥� a violent white supremacist militia 鈥� attempted to overthrow the Reconstruction-era government.

Despite the monument鈥檚 link to white supremacy, the prospect of its removal had enraged some people in the Crescent City, prompting death threats and requiring workers to don gear that was more suited for working a riot than removing a monument.

The Liberty Monument鈥檚 removal is the first of several such monuments that will be removed from public property by the city. Tributes to Confederate figures Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and P.G.T. Beauregard are also slated for removal.

The 澳彩开奖 has found that at least 60 such publicly funded symbols of the Confederacy have been removed or renamed since a white supremacist attempted to spark a race war in 2015 by killing nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. After photos of the killer with the Confederate flag surfaced, communities began to re-evaluate the public display of Confederate symbols.

And there鈥檚 no shortage of such symbols.

In 2016, the 澳彩开奖 documented more than 1,500 symbols of the Confederacy in public spaces as part of its report, Whose Heritage? The 澳彩开奖 encouraged local governments to place the symbols in settings such as museums where people can learn the full history of the Confederacy.

The public debate 鈥� and the resistance to removal of these monuments 鈥� is far from over. In Mississippi, the only state where the Confederate battle flag is part of the state flag, some universities and have refused to fly the state flag until it is redesigned. Legislators have responded by considering a proposal that will public institutions to display it.

In Georgia, plans to augment rather than remove the 3-acre Confederate Memorial Carving on Stone Mountain 鈥� once the site of KKK rallies 鈥� have stalled, despite being initially by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2015. Last year, Georgia also Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee鈥檚 birthday from the state鈥檚 holiday calendar. The days now bear the generic label of 鈥淪tate Holiday.鈥�

At least one Georgia lawmaker has since introduced a to recognize Confederate History Month and Confederate Memorial Day. Georgia Rep. Tommy Benton defended his proposal by invoking the election of Donald Trump.

鈥淲e just elected a president that said he was tired of political correctness,鈥� Benton. 鈥淎nd so that was the reason that we were looking to introduce the resolution.鈥�

Benton is not the only political figure to cite Trump as the inspiration for such efforts. In Virginia, gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart 鈥� Trump鈥檚 former campaign chairman for that state 鈥� tied his approval of Confederate symbols to Trump.

鈥淸The Confederate flag] is a symbol of heritage. It is not a symbol of racism,鈥� Stewart. He added: 鈥淚 think the 2016 presidential race was a watershed moment where you saw voters 鈥� including white voters and black voters and Asian voters and Hispanic voters 鈥� just fed up with political correctness and these gotcha techniques that the left has used to shut down speech.鈥�

Stewart has gone so far as to efforts to dismantle Confederate symbols to the efforts of the Islamic State. In Alabama, the House of Representatives this week that would make it more difficult for local governments to remove monuments, including Confederate monuments.

The removal of these monuments is not about erasing history. It鈥檚 about understanding our history and addressing the injustices of the past.