Not going to happen, it will require manual labor.
A New Orleans activist group is threatening to pull down the city’s most recognizable statue in response to what members claim are unreasonable delays in removing four other monuments honoring Confederate leaders and a 19th century white supremacist militia.
Take ‘Em Down NOLA says it will attempt to topple the statue of Andrew Jackson during a protest later this month in Jackson Square. Legal delays have kept the other statues — honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard, and a militia known as the White League — standing nine months after the City Council authorized their removal.
“We’re going to go to Jackson Square. We’re going to put ropes around Andrew Jackson and we’re going to take him down off his pedestal,” Take ‘Em Down organizer and longtime civil rights activist Malcolm Suber said during a forum the group held Thursday.
The demonstration, scheduled for Sept. 24, will come a few days before judges on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled to hear arguments over whether to lift an order that halted the removal of the monuments.
“The key is we’re not going to wait,” Take ‘Em Down organizer Angela Kinlaw said. “The city has taken plenty of time to make a decision. But the people are ready to move.”
It’s not clear how serious or successful any attempt to remove the Andrew Jackson statue would be.
Asked whether protesters would actually try to wrestle the statue to the ground, Kinlaw said it was largely a symbolic effort, but that “anything can happen during a demonstration.”
Suber said after the meeting that the effort would succeed “if we’ve got enough people and we’ve got enough rope.”
Hayne Rainey, spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu, said in an email, “We understand that there are strong emotions surrounding this subject and we ask that any public demonstrations remain peaceful and respectful as they have since we began this process. As a reminder, vandalism of any public property is strictly prohibited.”
The equestrian Jackson statue is one of numerous monuments, streets and buildings that Take ‘Em Down organizers believe promotes the idea of white supremacy by honoring slave owners and others who contributed to the oppression of minorities.
HT: The Hay Ride