Statue of General Lee coming down in New Orleans on Friday

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Statue of General Lee coming down in New Orleans on Friday

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER - May 18, 2017, 11:23 PM ET

The city of New Orleans will take down a prominent statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Friday, completing the southern city's removal of four Confederate-related statues that some called divisive.

Unlike the first three statues, city officials plan to take Lee's statue down during the day, with Mayor Mitch Landrieu planning a major speech Friday afternoon to explain his reasoning.

In a news release obtained by The Associated Press, the city said the statues were "erected decades after the Civil War to celebrate the 'Cult of the Lost Cause,' a movement recognized across the South as celebrating and promoting white supremacy."

The city plans to have extra security around the Lee statue Friday morning and will block off a one-block radius around Lee Circle to cars before and during the removal in anticipation of protests.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/statue-general-lee-coming-orleans-friday-47503771

[shenmue]

1. Yay

[luvMIdog]

2. woot woot

[ExciteBike66]

3. Lee was perhaps

the most legendary military commander this country has ever seen. It's too bad he wasn't born in New York or Pennsylvania, then we could actually honor him.

There should be no monuments honoring those who fought for slavery.

Here in Orlando there is a monument honoring Confederate soldiers from the area. One argument against removal is that the monument "stimulates conversations" about the era and slavery in particular. This argument is bupkis. One could easily replace the statue with a monument to the slaves themselves, which would be an even better conversation starter...

[tammywammy]

4. Kick