Just days after officials in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish voted to keep a Confederate statue at its courthouse, Hurricane Laura toppled it on Thursday.
The South Defenders Monument was found in the morning knocked off its pedestal with broken tree branches and grass all around it from the Category 4 storm’s impact.
The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury, the parish’s governing body, voted earlier in August to keep the statues in place after a heated public debate involving parish residents, according to the American Press.
Resident Darious Clayton told jurors that not removing the monument “devalued” people of color and that the movement to try to remove symbols of the Confederacy would not end at the debate.
“If you choose not to take the statue down, this is not over,” Clayton said. “This is just the beginning. We are the revolution. Take the statue down, or it’s your fault what happens to the city.”
Resident Scott Fuselier spoke in favor of letting the statue remain, citing his 14 Confederate ancestors.
“In the word history lies the word ‘story,'” Fuselier said. “The statue’s purpose is to teach us of its history — good, bad, or otherwise. Please do not fall victim to the cancel culture sweeping our nation. Keep the monument to teach the story of our history for future generations.”
Protests have flooded the nation demanding the removal of symbols and statues deemed to be figures of historical oppression. The calls to remove the symbols follow the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
