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Alabama Mayor to New Orleans: We’ll Take Those Confederate Memorials Off Your Hands

Lee Circle in New Orleans, Louisiana (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail has made it known that if New Orleans does not want its Confederate Monuments anymore, his town is willing to find a new home for them.

Over the past month, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana has removed several Confederate memorials from public grounds, leading to many protests and counter-protests at the sites. According to New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the monuments were removed because they “failed to appropriately reflect the values of diversity and inclusion that make New Orleans strong today.”

Nail wrote Landrieu and told him that he should consider donating the statues to Veterans Memorial Park in Hanceville. According to the Associated Press and The Cullman Times, feedback from Hanceville residents has been overwhelmingly positive.

Dozens of cities across the state of Alabama have their own Confederate monuments that were erected post-reconstruction. Montgomery, for instance, has the Monument to Confederate Soldiers and Sailors on the grounds of the State Capitol. Partially funded with state grants, the monument has stood since 1886, and the person who laid the cornerstone was none other than CSA President Jefferson Davis.

Unlike Lousiana, Alabama now has a law that protects historical monuments from removal from public grounds. Sign by Gov. Kay Ivey (R-Ala.) at the conclusion of the last legislative session, the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act protects monuments 50 years and older by prohibiting their relocation or removal, while the alteration of monuments less than 50 years old will require the permission of a permanent joint committee on Alabama Monument Protection.

Mayor Landrieu has not responded to Mayor Nail’s request at this time. New Orleans will solicit formal requests for their statues to occupy “a more appropriate place” soon.

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