New Orleans is taking down a prominent statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee today, completing the Southern city’s removal of four Confederate-related monuments that some called divisive, The Associated Press reports.
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 this afternoon to explain his reasoning.
The city says in a news release that 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 and will cordon off a one-block radius around Lee Circle to cars in anticipation of protests.
“Citizens have a right to assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful protest,” the release says. “We understand there are strong emotions surrounding this subject, and we ask that the public remain peaceful and respectful while demonstrating.”
