New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will speak on Thursday about race and reconciliation. He’s marking the one-year anniversary of a program called The Welcome Table designed to build community relations.
Mayor Landrieu says he will ask for a review of historical monuments around the city as other Southern cities reflect on their relationship with symbols of the Confederacy.
”Sometimes the people say, ‘Oh, well, the symbols have been there a long time and just by virtue of that they should stay there.’ Well, maybe, if they really reflect who we were. But suppose they don’t reflect who we ever were. Suppose they were put there who just had the power to do so, but they didn’t really reflect who we were as a character.”
New Orleans statues include those for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and General Robert E. Lee.
“Most of the statues we have are of people who were warriors. Well, the city of New Orleans was a place of music. It was always a place of diversity. It was a place of a lot of people coming together. It wasn’t about separation.”
Landrieu says history itself should be reviewed.
“Although history is important to us, the right history is important to us and remembering it the correct way.”
He’s asking the city’s 2018 Tricentennial Commission to evaluate the relevancy of what the city honors in its memorials.
