Could Jindal Block Removal of Confederate Monuments?

The vote came after a heated public hearing Tuesday about the Robert E. Lee statue at Lee Circle, the Jefferson Davis statue on Jefferson Davis Parkway, the P.G.T. Beauregard statue on Esplanade Avenue at the entrance to City Park and the Battle of Liberty Place Monument at Iberville Street.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office said it is looking into ways it can stop the removal of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, but a recent report indicates his administration may not have any authority.

Another public hearing has already been scheduled to discuss the monuments.

Those against their removal championed the monuments’ historical value and argued that they cost too much to remove.

A huge blow to supporters of New Orleans’ Confederate monuments was dealt Thursday as two city commissions voted to take them out of public view.

According to the Historic District Landmarks Commission, the recommendation was based on whether the monuments fostered ideologies in conflict with the U.S. Constitution, created a recurring expense and served as a site for violent demonstrations that threatened life or property.

Ashley Merlin, author of “Statuesque New Orleans”, a book of photographs of the city, said that the monuments offered an important lesson in history and art.

For others at the commissions’ meeting, statues are just the start. She said the issue should be considered by an independent panel of historians and civil rights leaders in light of the fact that many members of the commissions were appointed by the mayor.

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Following the shooting of an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina by apparent white supremacist, Dylann Roof-which caused the death of nine churchgoers-liberals have been on a quest to rid America of Confederate symbols. Dozens of people packed the City Council Chambers to speak for and against their removal – those in favor said the statues represent decades of oppression and disregard the struggles, histories and personhood of more than half of the families in New Orleans.