NEW ORLEANS(WGNO) – A leader of the Take ‘Em Down Nola coalition fighting to remove Confederate monuments in New Orleans took to the steps of City Hall today and said the group plans to remove the Andrew Jackson statue in Jackson Square Saturday. They are asking for police to step aside.
This monument was not on the list of four that Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City Council agreed to remove in December, but Malcolm Suber with Take ‘Em Down Nola says it is long overdue and that no action has been taken in the last nine months.
“The Andrew Jackson is the iconic image of the city of New Orleans,” Suber says. “There are more people that visit that statue than any other in this city, and so especially given that we was a slave owner and the architect of the Trail of Tears that murdered more than 5,000 native people, we think he is not deserving of any place of respect.”
The coalition plans to take down the statue that was declared a historic landmark in 1960 with manpower and ropes. They plan to gather at Congo Square at 1 p.m. Suber says he expects thousands of people to join.
They have invited Landrieu and City Council, but are asking police not to intervene. Landrieu has said that vandalism of public property will not be tolerated.