The Monuments III

The last monument to come down was Robert E. Lee. He was situated on a tall column in Lee Circle facing North. As there are streetcars running on Lee Circle and as the column is so high, on Thursday night the city announced that Lee would be taken down in broad daylight the next day (May 19). Works started in the evening and it was expected that the event would be over at 5 p.m.

I arrived at 3 p.m. and it looked as if it would not take long anymore. However, the statue came down at around 6 p.m. When I arrived there was a party going on. People had gathered to watch the fun, playing music from a boombox, doing double dutch, dancing. Others had brought chairs and had spent the day, the media was present. But, there were no confederate flags, no yelling, no discussions, the atmosphere was very pleasant.

It was a long wait. It was very hot. Once in a while the crowd was energized by chants such as: "Take down Robert E. Lee and all symbols of white supremacy!" Everyone was very excited.


And when it finally happened, when the statue was lifted off its pedestal, the crowd cheered and applauded.

In the end the Robert E. Lee was carted off in a Budget truck.

And I must admit that I am very proud of my favorite US-city that it was possible to make this happen.

The Monuments II

P.G.T. Beauregard was a general of the Confederate Army. His statue was situated prominently at a roundabout at the entrance of City Park with the New Orleans Museum of Art in sight. Even today he seems to have many fans that were sitting around his pedestal, guarding the statue from the iconoclasts.

 

Apart from the general, the horse had fans as well. They claimed, that it was not the horse's fault and that it should stay and only the rider be removed.

On the day of the removal of his statue someone posted a huge ad in the local newspaper, accusing the mayor of being a dictator and not respecting democracy. I am not sure why, because as I understand it, the city council was elected by the people of New Orleans and therefore I think that their vote respects all aspects of representative democracy. But, as a European, I may not have understood everything right. Another ad followed a couple of days later, however, it was much smaller.

The major argument however, concerns the cause for the Civil War: It said, the war had been fought for economical reasons and not because of slavery. Well, if you considered slaves not to be human beings but an economic asset which someone tries to take away, I guess you could call the reasons economic. However, Mitch didn't listen and history took its course

I received a call from a friend at around 11 pm that the statue was about to come down. Living not far from the location I cycled there and found curious onlookers of various backgrounds. Two young men kept shouting that this wasn't right, that taxpayers' money was wasted instead of spending it for reducing crime in the city. Also, they kept arguing that Germany had kept the concentration camps and so New Orleans should keep the statues as not to erase history. I didn't want to get involved to correct this crooked argument. But, of course, there is a difference between an authentic location that is preserved as a museum and as a site of remembrance and a statue that has been erected many years after the war in order to show the former slaves and the North that they were not well received here.

Others held US flags or waved Trump flags. But there were also those who were in favor of what was happening in the distance, looking on and quietly discussing the issue at hand.

I did not really see any of the removal activities as the police line held everyone in the distance.

I didn't stay on until the monument was taken down, but went to have a look on the next morning. It was very quiet, no protests, no flags.

Later that day a man and his son sprayed the general's name on the pedestal and were arrested for defacing a landmark. A judge ruled that they may only be tried for defacing public property, as the empty pedestal is no longer considered a landmark. The paint was immediately removed.

Yesterday I saw that the city has put a wooden board in front of the pedestal and the bricks are no longer visible. I'll have to take a picture of that later.

On the day of P.G.T. Beauregard's removal the Louisiana House of Representatives passed a bill that provides that no military monument of any war may be removed unless a referendum is held and the voters' majority approves the removal. After the bill passed the black caucus walked out. The bill will have to go to the State Senate next.

The Monuments I

In the fall of 2015 New Orleans City Council voted to remove four statues from public land that were honoring personnel of the Confederate Army or white supremacy. This majority vote caused a lot of repercussion. Opponents of the measure argued that the statues belonged to the history of the city and removing them would mean to erase history. Other arguments included the cost of the removal, or that this was only symbolic politics not changing anything about the situation of the African American community in New Orleans, especially concerning poverty and incarceration rates.

Proponents argued that the statues were erected during the Jim Crow era to underline white supremacy and that this was no longer keeping with the times, especially in a majority African American city.

Be it as it may, the vote was upheld by the courts. In late April the Battle of Liberty Place monument was the first to come down. It commemorated an event staged by the White League against the local police force in 1874. You can read more about it in Wikipedia.

Erected in 1891, the monument had originally been placed at the end of Canal Street. In 1931 and 1974 markers were added first to underline the idea of white supremacy, later to state that this was no longer expressing the contemporary way of thinking. In 1989 the monument was moved to a less prominent location.

The monument was not there anymore when I arrived. I guess nobody who doesn't know that this once was a monument's pedestal would really pay attention.

The second statue to come down was the one of Jefferson Davis. On my first trip to New Orleans I was really surprised to find a street named Jefferson Davis Parkway that runs through Mid City and Broadmoor. After all he had been the first and only president of the Confederacy. Why name a street after him and put up the statue of a loser?

But, of course, there were reasons for this that lead eventually to the proposition for the statue's removal.

None of these removals went about unchallenged. Before they took place protests were staged by people waving confederate, US or Trump flags. Some of them came from out of town.

The removals were not announced beforehand and they were executed at night time as not to stir protests or even violence. The contractor's logos were blackened on the machinery in place and the workers wore masks as not to be identifiable.

But, in the end, there is love.

The other two monuments featured two confederate generals: P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee.

New work, new location, some revivals

Thanks to a grant from Kunststiftung NRW I am engaging on another journey to the US. I just spent a week in New Orleans, revisited some of the places I photographed two and a half years ago, and witnessed history in the making (more in following posts).

Today I travelled to rural Alabama, namely Greensboro, to explore the terrain where 81 years ago Walker Evans and James Agee did their research on three tenant families that eventually became the photography and literary classic of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

As usual, I will try to keep you posted on my whereabouts. However, this time I will write in English that my international friends will also be able to follow. Stay tuned...

Mardi Gras Day

DER große Tag des Karnevals und gleichzeitig der krönende Abschluss des Karnevals ist Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday. Die Feierlichkeiten beginnen früh: Die so genannten Skulls and Bones Gangs, die sich als Skelette verkleiden, ziehen zum Morgengrauen durch die Stadt und verursachen Lärm, um alle aufzuwecken und vor dem Tag zu warnen. Wer nicht in ihrem Einzugsgebiet wohnt, sollte besser den Wecker stellen.



Um 8:00 verließen wir das Haus. Die Anwohner*innen der Stadtteile Marigny und Bywater haben das Glück, dass mehrere Walking Parades hier losgehen, man ist also zu Fuß unterwegs. Aus den Häusern strömten Verkleidete in Richtung der Kneipen, an denen es losging oder an denen die Paraden vorbei ziehen sollten.



Freunde meiner Mitbewohnerin Leah hatten ihr Haus zum Versammlungsort erklärt und Frühstück zubereitet. Eine nette Geste, um sich zu treffen, sich aufzuwärmen (die Temperaturen waren in der Nacht stark gefallen, es waren morgens ca. +2 Grad mit fiesen kalten Windböen, aber es war trocken) und schonmal das erste Bier zu trinken.



Dann zogen wir weiter in Richtung Mimi's in the Marigny, wo sich auf der Kreuzung zahlreiche Menschen versammelt hatten. Die Paraden schienen sehr spät dran zu sein, keiner wusste Genaues, man ging von hier nach dort, fand und verlor seine Peer-Group. Mit Leah wanderte ich ein bisschen hin und her, wir fanden die St. Anne Parade, folgten ihr, um dann an einer weiteren Kreuzug einen Block weiter einer anderen Parade zu folgen.



Leahs Freunde hatten ein Soundsystem-Float gebaut und beschallten als Audubon Zoo die Straßen. Als rollende Disco ging es in Richtung French Quarter bis zum Jackson Square, dem Platz vor der Kathedrale. Dort kamen immer wieder Brass-Bands mit Karnevalisten vorbei, überall gab es kleine Gruppen, die mit Mini-Floats auf Bollerwagen und Lastenrädern durch die Gegend zogen. Jeder, der Lust hat, macht sich seine eigene Parade.



Ich habe diese Gruppe dann endgültig verloren, als ich mich in einer Bar in die Kloschlange einreihte. Aber wieder draußen standen die St. Anthony Ramblers aus dem Marigny mit diversen Freunden vor der Tür, also zog ich mit ihnen weiter zur Frenchmen Street, auf der über mehrere Blocks eine riesige Outdoor-Party gefeiert wurde.



Die Party war nicht organisiert, sondern ergab sich aus der Konstellation von Bands und Floats mit Anlagen. Interessanterweise war die Straße nicht gesperrt, tatsächlich versuchten immer wieder Autofahrer, sich durch das Gewusel zu quetschen, was zu Missmut unter den Feiernden führte.



Ich folgte dann einer weiteren Brass Band, fand und verlor Freunde und traf schließlich auf eine Gruppe sehr netter Menschen, die sich als Captain, Co-Captain und Kreative der Krewe du Vieux outeten. Mit ihnen verbrachte ich dann den Abend, sie luden mich zum Essen ein. Ein würdiger Abschluss für einen sehr gelungenen Mardi Gras Day.



Es ist unmöglich, alles wahrzunehmen, was New Orleans an Mardi Gras bietet, man muss sich entscheiden und muss sich den Ereignissen dann einfach hingeben. Neben mehreren Großen Umzügen in Uptown gibt es noch die Mardi Gras Indians, die an verschiedenen Orten ihre Feierlichkeiten abhalten.