Slave owner John McDonogh's statue torn down by protesters in Louisiana, dumped into Mississippi river
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: Protesters in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, tore down the bust of slave owner John McDonogh before throwing it into the Mississippi river. In a statement on Saturday, June 13, local police said demonstrators at Duncan Plaza, which is directly across the street from City Hall, first dragged the statue’s bust into the streets and then loaded it into a truck. They then took the removed part of the statue and dumped it into the Mississippi river.
According to reports, the statue was destroyed as part of an effort to remove monuments to the Confederacy or with links to slavery amid the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests following the death of Geroge Floyd. Floyd, an unarmed African-American, was killed on May 25 when a former Minneapolis officer allegedly knelt on his neck for over eight minutes. A video that went viral on social media showed a number of people standing around the statue that stood at the intersection of Gravier Street and Loyola Avenue, while some people pulled on a rope tied to the bust, one person hit it with what appears to be a skateboard. Shortly after that, the bust tilted and fell down to the ground as the crowd cheered. McDonogh's name is reportedly still written on the pedestal, but underneath it, demonstrators wrote “racist”.
Another viral video of the incident showed dozens of people watching as the bust was rolled down the rocky banks of the Mississippi river and thrown into the water. Mayor LaToya Cantrell has reacted to the incident and said in a tweet that the city “rejects vandalism and destruction of City property. It is unlawful”.
McDonogh was a white American entrepreneur who owned black people as slaves. He made huge amount of money by forcing his slaves to work for their freedom. He started a plan under which his slaves could buy their freedom, generally over a period of 15 years. When McDonogh died, he left a large portion of his fortune to New Orleans and Baltimore to build public schools for poor children: white children and freed black children. Several schools in New Orleans are named after him.
Meanwhile, another report has claimed that two people who were driving the truck carrying the bust of McDonogh have been charged with inciting a riot, as well as a host of other charges. Caleb Wassell and Michaela Davis each face multiple charges, as per arrest records. 27-year-old Wassell, who is white, faces one charge each of illegal possession of the stolen property, inciting a riot, theft under $1,000, and inciting a felony. While 30-year-old Davis, who is black, has been pressed with charges that include a battery of a police officer, being a principal to theft, possession of marijuana, inciting a riot, inciting a felony and aggravated flight from an officer.
This comes after a KKK-style burning cross was found on Alabama’s I-85 as the state’s port city, Mobile, removed a statue of a Confederate naval officer, Raphael Semmes. Andre Brunson, a sheriff from Macon County, said they received information about the incident after several motorists noticed the fire on Interstate 85 at around 9:30 pm on Thursday, June 4. Brunson said the cross was made out of makeshift wood that was set on fire on top of the bridge.
At the time, no suspect was identified in the case. However, police urged people to call the Macon County Sheriff’s Office if they have any information regarding the fire incident. Burning crosses are most often associated with a terror image used by the Ku Klux Klan, according to the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States.