LOUISIANA: New Orleans Can Remove Three Confederate Monuments
After a long and tough fight, it seemed Monday that Confederate General Robert E. Lee would be moving out of New Orleans.
A federal court ruled this week that a statue of Lee standing proudly atop a monument in the city could be removed, along with monuments that honor former Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. The three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a city-led effort to do away with the landmarks. The judges were not convinced by the case meant to block the removal of the statues, which was brought by the Monumental Task Committee and the Louisiana Landmarks Society.
Statue of Robert E. Lee is perched atop this monument in New Orleans.
Authorities haven’t yet decided where the statues will end up.
The city also petitioned to remove another monument honoring the Battle of Liberty Place, an obelisk commemorating an 1874 uprising by the supremacy group White League. But that memorial was not included in Monday’s decision because it was part of a federally funded transportation project and therefore set to be considered separately.
“This win today will allow us to begin to turn a page on our divisive past and chart the course for a more inclusive future,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. “Moving the location of these monuments — from prominent public places in our city where they are revered to a place where they can be remembered — changes only their geography, not our history.”
The lawsuit to block the monuments’ removal was filed shortly after the New Orleans City Council voted to take down the statues in December 2015. The initial decision was partly due to a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, when white gunman Dylann Roof killed nine black worshippers.
The 2015 lawsuit argued that “regardless whether the Civil War era is regarded as a catastrophic mistake or a noble endeavor, it is undeniably a formative event in the history of Louisiana.” The suit also stated that the monuments were “the source of much of the cultural heritage.”
–internationalbusinessnews
DOUGLAS COUNTY. Ga. — A metro Atlanta couple will be spending years behind prison bars after they were convicted of yelling racial slurs at a group of people celebrating a child’s birthday party.
A metro Atlanta couple will be spending years behind prison bars after they were convicted of yelling racial slurs at a group of people celebrating a child’s birthday party.
On Monday, Jose Torres and Kayla Norton sobbed uncontrollably as they learned their fate. The Douglas County judge sentenced Torres to 20 years in prison with 13 to serve. Norton received 15 years with six to serve. They each will serve the rest of their sentences on probation.
The couple was part of a racially-motivated confrontation in July 2015, which was caught on cell phone video. At the time, Torres, Norton and more than a dozen others who called themselves “Respect The Flag” – a group that supports the display of the Confederate battle flag – drove around displaying the flags on their vehicles.
The District Attorney said Torres, Norton and the group yelled racial slurs at a group of people who were celebrating an African-American child’s birthday while Torres pointed a shotgun at the crowd.
The incident came just days after a massacre at a Charleston church, where nine African-Americans were killed.
Witnesses inside the courtroom Monday listened as Norton, who has three children of her own, tearfully apologized.
“For your child to look at you and ask you what that means it breaks my heart,” Norton said to the child’s family.
Emotions were high, too, in the crowd as parents and family members who were at that birthday party looked on.
“I forgive you. I forgive all of you,” said one family member. “I’m not a mean spirited person.”
Torres and Norton were convicted for violating the states’ Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and making terroristic threats. Georgia has no hate crime law.
Originally, 15 people were charged in connection to the incident, only four with felonies. Two of those pleaded guilty and are serving much lighter sentences.
–usatoday.com
