re: PGT Beauregard monument is being removed tonight

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Mitch Landrieu? @MayorLandrieu 1m1 minute ago Today we refuse to allow our past to define us and begin removal of the Beauregard statue honoring the Confederacy.

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A change of heart, a forgotten man -- Beauregard fought hard to preserve the Old South, including the institution of slavery. But after the war his reputation as a hero of the Confederacy was forever damaged by his outspoken work for human rights. As part of a coalition of prominent white and black New Orleanians, he not only argued to give black people voting rights but also pushed for integrated schools, public places and transportation. "I am persuaded that the natural relation between the white and colored people is that of friendship," Beauregard said in an address published in July 1873 in newspapers including The New Orleans Republican and The Daily Picayune. "I am persuaded that their interests are identical; that their destinies in this state, where the two races are equally divided, are linked together; and that there is no prosperity for Louisiana which must not be the result of their cooperation. "I am equally convinced that the evils anticipated by some men from the practical enforcement of equal rights are mostly imaginary, and that the relation of the races in the exercise of these rights will speedily adjust themselves to the satisfaction of all."

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