Frankie Cordeira Jr.

Description: New Orleans protesters launch last-ditch effort to protect Confederate monuments... People participate in a candlelight vigil on April 24 at the statue of Jefferson Davis in New Orleans. (Gerald Herbert/AP) James Brousse plans to spend a good chunk of the next few weeks protecting New Orleanss Confederate monuments from impending demolition and the 81-year-old has a message for police who will try to keep the peace: You can leave the snipers at home. Brousse the commander of the local chapter of Sons of Confederate Veterans is part of a group of about a dozen people who have stood vigil for the past week at three monuments honoring the Confederacy landmarksthat city leaders say are mostly out of touch with how most residents see their city. Brousse was at the first protest surrounded by what he called an overblown police presence holding candles and watching quietly as workers disassembleda monument honoring rebels who tried to overthrow the New Orleans city government after the Civil War. And Brousse and his ad hoc group (some are members of Sons of Confederate Veterans though the group has not officially endorsed the protests) are vowing to continue protecting the remaining monuments whichhonor Confederate President Jefferson Davis Gen. Robert E. Leeand Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard a Louisiana native. The desire to deconstruct the monuments came as the city began rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The anti-Confederate sentiment intensified in New Orleans as it has elsewhere after nineblack churchgoers were killedJune 17 2015 at a church in Charleston S.C. in a racially motivated massacre. The killer Dylann Roof was seen on one website holding a gun in one hand and a Confederate flag in the other. New Orleans Mayor MitchLandrieu (D) has contended that memorials to the defenders of slavery are out of touch with the opinions of most of the citys residents. The monuments also put some of the most divisive parts of the citys past in some of its most prominent places he has said. As we began to rebuild our city and think again about who we were and what we were these monuments popped just right up Landrieu said April 24 on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. And [we] said Why do we have monuments that are revering the Confederacy right in the heart of the most prominent places in the city in places of reverence? [Opinion: Fighting the removal of Confederate monuments is the real Lost Cause] As The Washington Posts Avi Selk reported the workers who removed the first memorial on the morning of April 24 wore masks flak jackets and Kevlar helmets. They were protected by police snipers perched in a nearby building. The mayor said the extra protection was needed because of threats made to contractors hired to remove themonuments.Shortly after the city announced that David Mahlers company received a contract his $200000 Lamborghini was torched according to Lafayette La. CBS-affiliate KLFY. I dont know if this has anything to do with a job he was recently CONTRACTED to do and decided not to take or if there is another reason but it makes me sad that someone would go this far his wife wrote on Facebook after the incident according to the news station. The hate in this world is too thick so Ill be the bigger person and only spread love back. This has to stop!! God bless the brave beautiful & courageous men/women defending our beloved Jefferson Davis monument tonight America's finest thank you! http://pic.twitter.com/P0hSzIYw68 David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) April 29 2017 Brousse told The Post on Saturday thatthe rumors or threats and violence had been overblown and that the protests have been peaceful. Sons of Confederate Veterans is passionate about the memorials but theyve spent two years working for change in the court system and in Louisianas legislature. The group has also asked like-minded people to boycott the city said Tom Strain the commander in chief of Sons of Confederate Veterans. Theyre planning a news conference in the next week. [Mississippi Alabama marking Confederate Memorial Day] Brousse said the group hasnt been responsible for any violence behind the mock reenactments of Civil War battles. Were not violent peopleBrousse said. Im a citizen of New Orleans. Brousse said the monuments are a testament to the citys history even if it is a blemished past and that they shouldnt be brought down just because theyre out of step with modern viewpoints. In the monuments he said he seeshonor for the sacrificeof his great-great-uncle Jean Brousse a veteran of the Civil War. This is our history. He and others protesting the removal of the monuments worry that these four memorials are just the first step in erasing uncomfortable aspects of the citys history. City officials have floated the idea of renaming streets named after prominent Confederates and even removing a statue of President Andrew Jackson he told The Post. He believes those fights are on the horizon even as the monument battle draws to a close. Landrieu wouldnt give the date the city plans to take down the other monuments but he said its coming soon. The thing that makes New Orleans really wonderful and beautiful that everybody experiences when you get here is our diversity he said. Thats the gift that New Orleans has given to the rest of the country and these statues are an aberration. Read more: A Dairy Queen owner unleashed a racist tirade against a customer. He no longer has a business. A teen spread a racist video of a black classmate eating chicken. Both face criminal charges. Private school teens held an Instagram debate on the n-word. It went as well as youd expect.
By Frankie Cordeira Jr.
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