New Orleans church leaders rally support for removal of Confederate monuments

By Greg LaRose
The Times-Picayune
on August 19, 2015 at 12:30 PM
updated August 19, 2015 at 12:53 PM

A group of New Orleans church leaders is asking citizens to join them in supporting a proposal to take down four Confederate monuments.

Members of Clergy for a United City will will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at First Grace United Methodist Church, steps away from the statue of Jefferson Davis at the intersection of Canal Street and Jefferson Davis Parkway ...

An announcement from Clergy for a United City described it as "a citywide interfaith group of nearly 100 pastors of leaders." Its members have written a "pastoral letter" posted at nolaclergy.com and are asking citizens to add their signatures to it.

"In their current state, lacking any proper context, these monuments do not teach us about the past," an excerpt from the letter reads. "They reflect a deafening silence about Jim Crow culture ... As symbols in our growing international city, these monuments belong not in our public line of sight, but in museums where context and education may be given and learned from" ...

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/new_orleans_church_leaders_ral.html