NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called Wednesday for the replacement of "divisive" monuments in the city, including a monument to Confederate Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee.
"Mayor Mitch Landrieu today called on City officials to begin taking action to remove four prominent divisive statues and consider replacing them with symbols that reflect the culture, unity, hope and future of New Orleans," the mayor's office said in a statement Wednesday.
Landrieu's comments came during a meeting on racial reconciliation in the city.
In addition to the Lee monument, Landrieu is also pushing for the removal of the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard Equestrian Statue, the Jefferson Davis Monument and the Liberty Monument, the statement said.
The Liberty Monument, first erected in 1891, commemorates a battle fought in 1874 between police and the White League, a group of whites trying to overthrow the local Reconstruction government.
Landrieu's comments come as many states in the South are debating whether to take down Confederate symbols in the wake of the shooting at a historic black church in South Carolina. Nine parishioners were killed when a gunman opened fire.
Photos of the 21-year-old suspect posing with the Confederate battle flag have since surfaced, sparking debate over whether symbols of the Confederacy are part of the South's heritage or artifacts of a racist past.
Alabama's governor took down four flags with secessionist symbols Wednesday from a large monument to rebel soldiers outside that state's capitol. Mississippi's two U.S. senators also endorsed removing the Confederate symbol from the state's flag.