HURRICANE LAURA KNOCKS DOWN CONFEDERATE STATUE TWO WEEKS AFTER JURY VOTED TO KEEP IT

  • 05 Sep - 11 Sep, 2020
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Mag Files

Just two weeks after a police jury in Louisiana voted to keep a Confederate statue amid calls to remove it, Hurricane Laura's strong winds took down the century-old monument. The hurricane made landfall in the United States, inflicting significant structural damage to areas around Louisiana. Despite Laura being downgraded to a tropical storm from a Category four hurricane, its 150-mph winds were enough to topple the South's Defenders Monument located in front of Calcasieu Parish Courthouse in downtown Lake Charles. The statue had stood in front of the courthouse for 105 years, and recently became a point of contention amid calls to remove monuments to the Confederate States of America – a breakaway government that fought against the U.S. in the American Civil War – around the country today as many view them as symbols of racism. Pictures after Laura hit the area showed the statue on the ground, bent and broken. On Aug 13, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury voted 10-4 to keep the statue in front of the courthouse.

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