Hurricane Laura ‘had other plans’ for controversial Confederate statue in Louisiana

Just two weeks after officials voted to not remove a controversial Confederate monument in Louisiana, Hurricane Laura did just that.

Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Louisiana coast around 1 a.m. Thursday, bringing damaging winds of up to 150 mph, McClatchy News reported.

Photos posted to social media show the statue atop South’s Defenders — a Confederate Monument outside the Calcasieu Parish courthouse in Lake Charles — lying on the grass among tree branches and other debris, apparently damaged.

Lake Charles is located on Louisiana’s coast, roughly 60 miles east of Beaumont, Texas.

“My dad sent me some pics of the South’s Defenders monument in Downtown Lake Charles post-Laura and... I think some people may be happy about this,” Andrew Beam posted along with photos on Twitter.

Photos posted to Twitter by Davante Lewis show two images side-by-side: one of the damaged monument and the other of what appears to be the structure before the storm.

“Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish has been filled with controversy and tension after our parish government by a vote of 10-5 refused to take down the Confederate South’s Defenders Monument,” he wrote. “Hurricane Laura had other plans and brought it down herself.”

Earlier this month, the Calcasieu police jury voted to not remove the controversial monument, which was dedicated in 1915 to recognize Confederate soldiers from the area and across the South, the Associated Press reported.

Those in favor of the removal called the statue a painful reminder of slavery in the U.S., saying that it “doesn’t belong on tax payer property,” KPLC reported. Others added that the statue devalues Black people and people of color, according to the AP.

Those who opposed its removal said the monument represented “their heritage and our country’s history,” KPLC reported.

At a special city council meeting in July, several citizens took turns addressing the council for two hours before the council voted to send a resolution to the Calcasieu police jury requesting that it hold a public hearing before deciding the fate of the monument, according to the outlet.

In advance of the vote, parish administrator Bryan Beam said he’d received 945 written responses from the community in regard to the monument — 878 against removal and 67 in favor, the AP reported.

After the jury voted to keep the monument in front of the courthouse, a group of people gathered Aug. 20 to protest the decision, according to the American Press.

“We’re beginning a series of events predicated on making sure the monument comes down or making sure that we create as much noise until it comes down,” Darius Clayton told the outlet. “If they think we are done, they are sorely mistaken.”

At least 59 Confederate monuments have been removed since the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Floyd, 46, died while in police custody on May 25 after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes, as three other officers didn’t intervene. All four were fired and face charges.

This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 8:27 AM with the headline "Hurricane Laura ‘had other plans’ for controversial Confederate statue in Louisiana."