This time it’s Jeff Davis. Same MO—heavy, militarized police presence with body armor and snipers on the rooftops. Everyone is masked and the logos and license plates covered, statue moved to “an undisclosed location.”
Pat Gallagher, who lives in Jefferson Parish, said she decided to go out to the intersection because she is concerned about the preservation of all monuments, both Confederate and others.
“I think it’s a slippery slope,” she said of taking down monuments. “It’s part of history — whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. You can’t change history.”
She expressed a special concern for monuments to those who served in the military, ticking off a list of wars and battles in which she said her ancestors have served, beginning with one who fought at Valley Forge and continuing through the Battle of New Orleans, the Civil War, World War II and a nephew now stationed in Afghanistan.
“This is about monuments to military men who fought for their country,” she said. “This is very personal for me. That’s why I’m here — to stand up for my ancestors — all of them.”
“I’m getting sick at heart because they’re getting ready to take this down,” she said, tearing up.
Yep, nothing says tolerance like tearing down somebody else’s monuments.
Whatever you think about it, it seems to me to be an incredibly boneheaded and counterproductive move for a city like New Orleans, which relies heavily on tourism driven by its rich history. When you start sanitizing that history to please a vocal minority, and especially if it gets a lot of publicity, it’s not going to help your city’s image. New Orleans is beset by a host of problems as it is, including high crime, corruption, and dealing with the aftermath of a devastating hurricane. They’ve just added another one.
Leave a Reply