Take ‘Em Down NOLA Demands The Removal Of Andrew Jackson’s Statue

We warned you that when the Confederate monuments were taken down, groups like Take ‘Em Down NOLA were not going to stop. They were going to take down any monument that they saw as offensive.

Yesterday, Take ‘Em Down NOLA held a rally at the site of the old Jefferson Davis monument. They demanded the removal of still more monuments and the names of streets to be changed. Among the monuments they demanded removed is Andrew Jackson’s monument in Jackson Square.

From WWL:

Now that the four Conferate-era statues scheduled for removal in New Orleans have been taken down, the group Take ‘Em Down NOLA’ is asking for more change.

They want Mayor Landrieu to remove or rename other statues or streets with Confederate reference, like General Ogden Taylor and Jeff Davis Parkway.

‘Take ‘Em Down NOLA’ held a press conference Thursday where the Jefferson Davis monument once stood to call on city leaders to continue the removal of what they deemed “white supremacist” monuments from the city.

‘Take ‘Em Down NOLA’ president Malcolm Suber called for streets such as General Ogden and Jefferson Davis Parkway to be renamed and the monument to President Andrew Jackson, though unassociated with the Confederacy, to come down.

Mitch Landrieu opened up a Pandora’s box when he took down the Confederate monuments. So much of American and New Orleans’s history is tied to the institution of slavery. New Orleans has already gone to great lengths to try and scrub that part of its history.

Remember when the Orleans Parish School Board changed the names of schools of slaveholders? Even George Washington had his name taken off of some New Orleans schools. By the way, Malcolm Suber was behind that campaign as well. Where does it end?

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Andrew Jackson, who saved New Orleans in 1815 from British rule, is even more complex than the Confederate monuments. While he was a brilliant general and a former U.S. President, Jackson was a slave owner and he conducted what would be called today genocide against Native Americans. It is for those very reasons why Andrew Jackson is going to be replaced by Harriet Tubman on the $20. That is a move I support, by the way.

However, Jackson’s statue should remain in Jackson Square for the same reasons why the Confederate monuments should have stayed in their places. History cannot be changed, we can only learn from it. It is usually not a good idea to apply modern morality to history. Times were different and hopefully we have become better people from it.

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