Caddo Parish Commission votes to remove Confederate monument

The Caddo Parish Commission voted Thursday night (Oct. 19) to remove a Confederate monument on public property, capping an hours-long discussion but continuing an ongoing debate over whether symbols some connect to slavery have a place on public property.

The monument in Shreveport, the parish seat, was erected in 1906. Ahead of Thursday's 7-5 vote, commissioners rejected an alternative proposal to keep the monument in place but add contextual plaques to the site.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy has been most prominent among the monument's advocates. It has laid a claim to owning the property where it stands, and its leaders have suggested they would challenge in court any vote to take it down.

Calls to bring down the Caddo monument grew louder after this past spring when New Orleans took down three statues of Confederate leaders and an obelisk commemorating a white supremacist victory in a skirmish with integrated Reconstructionist forces. Despite having the support of the City Council, Mayor Mitch Landrieu drew critics for spending more than $1 million to secure the four sites.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/caddo_parish_confederate_monum.html