Caddo Confederate Monument
Caddo Confederate Monument
UDC Shreveport responds to Caddo Parish demand for removal of Confederate monument
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — The attorney for the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Shreveport chapter has issued a statement in response to Caddo Parish’s demand that they remove their monument from outside the Caddo Parish Courthouse within 90 days.
“My client is disappointed with the notice (dated August 28) sent from the attorney for the Caddo Parish Commission especially because my client has a quit claim deed to the land underneath the Caddo Parish Confederate Monument,” attorney Dick “Dave” Knadler said in a written statement Friday afternoon to KTAL NBC 6 News. “In addition, my client is disappointed that the Caddo Parish Commission has not waited for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on whether or not to grant my client’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari.”
As KTAL NBC 6 News first reported Thursday, the certified letter from Parish Attorney Donna Frazier noted that “The Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal has ruled that the Parish owns the ground beneath the monument and has the right to request its removal,” and advised the group that the parish has “withdrawn consent for the Confederate Monument, as your organization’s property, to remain on the Courthouse Square which is the Parish’s property.”
The demand to remove the monument comes nearly two years after the Caddo Parish Commission voted to remove the monument. The Shreveport chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy immediately filed suit to block the removal on the grounds that it has a “private property interest” in the land where the statue stands in front of the Caddo Parish Courthouse. It also claims parish officials violated its rights to free speech and equal protection.
A federal judge in Monroe threw out the suit last year, a decision that has since been upheld by a federal appeals court.
The deadline for removal of the monument is Tuesday, November 26, 2019. Knadler did not address whether or when the UDC would comply with the parish’s demand.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds
OPENING IS VERY BAD AUDIO DUE TO MICROPHONE AT MEETING. After about ten minutes it is much better! This from point where microphone works. If you want the early section, go to:
Fate of courthouse's Confederate monument in limbo...
May 23 hearing with citizen speakers at Broadmoor Middle School on proposal to move monument from Caddo Courthouse grounds.
From the petition to remove:
We, the residents of Caddo Parish, submit that the time has come for the removal of the Confederate statue at the courthouse. It is time to take immediate action to remove this monument to slavery, sedition and racial oppression.
Additionally, it is our assertion that this statue subverts and undermines our core principles of liberty and justice for all. It is unconscionable that anyone going to the courthouse, a place promising equal justice for all, should be forced to do so under a shadow of injustice and suppression.
We appeal to the Caddo Parish Commission to outline and commit to a process for the timely and definitive removal of this statue.
Facts:
Louisiana is home to numerous Civil War museums & historic sites. Any of these dedicated locations would be an appropriate venue for the Confederate monument. The statue would finally be protected from repeated vandalism and preserved in its historic context, and the controversy surrounding its current placement would be resolved. (Source: crt.state.la.us/tourism/pressroom/history-and-heritage/civil-war-sites/)
The legality of removing Confederate monuments has been affirmed by both the City of New Orleans and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. (Source: courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-approves-removal-confederate-statues/)
The monument and its property do not belong to the Daughters of the Confederacy. Caddo Parish Attorney Donna Frazier stated the following in a special meeting of the Long Range Planning/Special Projects Committee on June 9, 2016: a title opinion was performed by United Title at the request of Mr. Dannye Malone, and the Parish does own the land that the monument sits on. There was a meeting of the Police Jury in 1903 that gave the use of that land to the United Daughters of the Confederacy at that time; however, that is not sufficient to convey title to that plat. That plat shows to belong to the Parish in the courthouse. She stated that the Parish owns the land that the monument sits on. Sadly, the Shreveport Chapter 237 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy continue to mislead the public by misrepresenting their ownership of this property. (Source: caddo.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3753?fileID=3527)
No competitive bid process is required by law if removal of the statue costs less than $152,400.00. The City of New Orleans contracted the expeditious removal of the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statue for $150,000; therefore, the Caddo Parish Commission should be able to procure a removal contractor for $150,000.00 or less. (Source: nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/04/confederate_monuments_bid_limi.html)
This statue has only recently been accepted into the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places Program; it's entry date was January 29, 2014. The statue is also categorized as a representation of The Cult of the Lost Cause, which is described by the NPS as (dominating) Southern cultural history in the early twentieth century, and is still alive and well today. These facts are peripherally relevant to the perceived artistic & historic value of the statue, but do not in any way justify the statue's controversial location in our public square. (Source: nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13001124.htm)
Proponents of Confederate statues have publicly stated the following comments on a Shreveport-based website. These comments do not reflect the values of most Shreveporters or most Louisianans, but are an indication of the social divide that is perpetuated by people who are sympathetic to the antiquated cause of the Confederacy. Shreveporters are hopeful that the relocation of the Confederate statue to an appropriate museum will bring an end to divisive outbursts like these:
Burn the city, then they have to listen, it works for the other breed.
Non native radicals are pushing this agenda to reinterpret our history and culture...
Please call your legislators to end the cultural and historical cleansing of our state...These radicals want Andrew Jackson, Bienville, Joan of Arch (sic) and other statues gone!
...I think it is time to BURN DOWN the city...the CIVIL WAR should start anew.
What if the SOUTH had won the war?? Where would black people be right now?
You will not taint our proud and noble history with your black hatred for all that stood upright.
This is an act of war against an entire people.
(Source:
Shreveport Citizens Protest the Confederate Monument
A small group has gathered at the Caddo Courthouse waving American and Pan African flags to protest the Confederate monument.
Caddo Commission approves $500,000 for Confederate monument removal
A Caddo Parish Commission committee has allocated funds to move the Confederate Monument that’s located outside the Caddo Parish Courthouse.
Caddo Commission President On Moving Confederate Monument
Caddo Parish Commission President Steven Jackson talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about the continuing controversy surrounding the Confederate Monument in downtown Shreveport.
A Confederate Flag Blows In Shreveport
The Ron and Dan Show Winter Solstice Special, 2006, explores the enigma of a confederate flag flying in front of the courthouse in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds-Part#5
May 23 hearing ay Broadmoor Middle School on the proposal to remove the monument from the Caddo Courthouse grounds.
A community divided
Controversy over the memorial hit Shreveport only a week after the Charleston church shooting as people jumped to defend or scrutinize the courthouse monument.
Some feel this issue could be resolved by building off of what's already in place, rather than eliminating it.
Craig Lee, Shreveport native and black advocacy leader, said removing Confederate monuments would be counterproductive in achieving real change in race relations. He said change will start in the hearts and minds of the individual, not from the workings of the court.
He echoed Foster by pointing out the Confederate flag is not the only symbol that's ever embodied racism. He said the flag that first represented slavery and the oppression of his African ancestors was not the Confederate flag, but it was the United States of America's flag since millions of slaves imported into the country were brought under the stars and stripes.
Neither side had their hands clean in this situation, Lee said.
He suggested rather than eliminating Confederate monuments, new memorials could be erected alongside the old to tell stories that celebrate diversity. He said if these monuments stand alone it creates a false narrative because it leaves out the place of other, such as black soldiers and abolitionists, from the story.
Aaron Sheehan-Dean, a LSU associate history professor, said one example of adding new monuments to build a better narrative can be found in Richmond, Virginia, along a stretch called Monument Avenue.
Six memorials are placed along the roadway. Four of the statues are Confederate generals, one is a Virginia-native oceanographer and the last is black tennis legend, Arthur Ashe. Though the monuments weren't meant to be related, Sheehan-Dean said it still challenges people to learn about different aspects of history.
It's a strange juxtaposition, but it's an effective way to do it because it challenges people to find out what happened between the Civil War and today in our history, Sheehan-Dean said.
Joiner suggested the same be done at the courthouse by letting the public decide on another monument that celebrates multiculturalism and could be placed opposite of the Confederate statue on the property's southern lawn.
But, regardless of the progress made, Foster acknowledges racism as being alive and well today. He said, through the efforts of the black community, advances have been made toward total equality, but there is a constant counter-force from the white community.
The first step to end this is for white people to understand and accept that racism is a real problem we have to deal with, Foster said. That has to be a constant factor in white minds. If society doesn't think about the problem of racism then it will always come back.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds-Part#6
May 23 hearing ay Broadmoor Middle School on the proposal to remove the monument from the Caddo Courthouse grounds.
–Shreveport Rep files bill to protect military monuments–
State Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, has filed a bill aimed at protecting monuments commemorating U.S. wars that would include the Confederate monument in front of the Caddo Parish Courthouse, which has been considered for removal by the Caddo Parish Commission.
Called the Louisiana Military Memorial Conservation Act, the bill would prohibit the alteration or removal of any statue, plaque, structure or monument erected in commemoration of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, War Between the States, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, War in Iraq, or any Native American War. The bill also prohibits renaming or removing the name any structure, plaque, statue, monument, school, street, bridge, building, park or area named after any historical military figure, historical military event, military organization, or military unit.
The bill would shield the Confederate statue in front of the Caddo Parish courthouse from destruction. The statue, The Last Confederate Flag which depicts four generals of the Confederacy and a single Confederate soldier, has been a source of controversy, as members from the National Action Network and Shreveport's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People see the statue as a symbol of racism. Others who want to keep the monument have declared it a symbol of the ultimate sacrifice by American veterans of war.
addo Parish commissioners decided at a long-range planning and special projects meeting last June to further explore options for the monument by creating a subcommittee of citizens — to include historians, homeowners and community leaders, according to Krystle Grindley, Caddo Parish public information officer.
The efforts of civil rights advocates led to the removal of the Confederate flag from the courthouse in 2011 but left the confederate monument, the removal of which has been under heated debate since last summer.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds-Part#4
Fate of courthouse's Confederate monument in limbo...
May 23 hearing ay Broadmoor Middle School on the proposal to remove the monument from the Caddo Courthouse grounds.
Four Confederate generals stare granite-eyed at those entering Caddo's central dispensary of justice, including those for whom the generals' cause was decidedly unjust.
Civil rights advocates in 2011 successfully brought down the Confederate flag that soared alongside the monument on the north side of the courthouse. They left the generals standing — something now being reconsidered.
A 21-year-old white man in South Carolina massacred nine black churchgoers last month. Now the Confederate battle standard has been — correctly or incorrectly — attached to the name Dylann Roof.
While Confederate flags are being lowered on public land and merchandise bearing the insignia is being taken off store shelves, some members of the NAACP, the National Action Network and other black advocacy organizations are calling for the removal of monuments that bear or reflect the ideologies of the Confederacy.
The history of The Last Confederate Flag
It's a glaring monument, said NAACP Shreveport branch president Lloyd Thompson. And with all of the conversations going on around the country I feel now is the time to remove the statue.
Outside a hall of justice
Some question if the monument should be removed, as well as how and where it would be moved.
Gaines Foster, an associate professor at Louisiana State University who specializes in the Civil War and the modern South, said removing the Confederate flag from public spaces was sensible because it's a more blatant symbol of racism, but monuments present a tougher issue because they're less associated with racist symbols than the flag itself.
The purpose of Confederate monuments is two-sided, he said. Having these monuments around keeps the thought alive the cause of the Confederacy was just. But they're also in place to celebrate the individual soldier, and honor his service and sacrifice of answering the call to defend his home.
Lawmakers support call to remove Confederate flag
Gary Joiner, associate history professor at Louisiana State University-Shreveport, added many legal issues stand between the monument and those trying to move it.
Joiner said the United Daughters of the Confederacy, along with their Union counterparts, worked diligently in the early 20th century to get Civil War monuments up across the country. The purpose of these monuments was to recognize and honor the men who fought and died in the war.
Thompson argues since the Caddo courthouse is public property, it can't be given to a private organization.
However, Joiner said when the UDC in Caddo took their plans for a monument to the police jury, which is now the commission, the courthouse was not yet located there. And, in an open meeting, the police jury granted the women permission to go ahead with their plans and even gave them $1,000 for the $10,000 project.
I have not found the deed for the monument, and it may not exist in the clerk's office, but it states in the police jury minutes that permission was granted and, since it was sanctioned with money, the result is an oral contract that, after 109 years, must be upheld today, said Joiner.
Lynda Gramlin, former president of the state and local chapters of the UDC, said she has a personal copy of those police jury minutes, and the UDC aren't letting the statue go anywhere if they can help it.
We own that monument and the plot of land under it, Gramlin said. It's private property, and we have no plans of moving any part of it.
Still, Thompson argues a place of justice is no place for a monument that serves as a reminder of black oppression.
We shouldn't have a statue like that in a place where people have to walk by it on their way to plead a case or face a judge, Thompson said.
The statue in its place, he said, reinforces the idea of white racial superiority and how that's reflected in the judicial system.
According to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, as of June 2014, 67.8 percent of all people in state prisons are black. Also, 56 of the 85 people on death row are black.
Thompson said the statue would be better suited for a cemetery or museum, so its history could be preserved in a more appropriate location.
#therealnews3 Giving Game On Cathedral Notre Dame, Shreveport Mayor, Caddo Parish Monument
It's crazy that a little organization like what we have at The Real News Behind The News has literally become one of the most powerful forces in our city of Shreveport, Caddo oarish, and maybe even in our state of Louisiana.
We don't just get on social media and talk about it, we are actually out here in the trenches being about it.
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Caddo Parish Confederate Monument
A Confederate Flag Blows In Shreveport
Ron Hardy and Dan Garner ponder the enigma of having a confederate flag fly in front of the courthouse in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds-Part#3
May 23 hearing ay Broadmoor Middle School on the proposal to remove the monument from the Caddo Courthouse grounds.
From: Shreveport NAACP calls for removal of Confederate Monument from Caddo courthouse
As the nation debates the Confederate battle flag's place in modern society, some local civil rights leaders are calling for the removal of a Shreveport memorial featuring Civil War generals and iconography.
Shreveport NAACP president Lloyd Thompson said Wednesday it's time to remove the Confederate Monument that currently sits in front of the district courthouse's main entrance. He plans to ask the Caddo Commission to pay for the $300,000 moving cost.
It becomes an indictment on us as a community to allow those folks to walk past their statue on their way to get justice, Thompson said of the 30-foot statue.
Shreveport historian Gary Joiner, who is also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, says the memorial marks a specific moment in history: when this same spot of land served as the last capital of the Confederate States of America.
It's really more about the end of the Confederacy and the disbanding of the armies than anything else, Joiner said. It's an integral part of our history.
While Thompson plans to ask the Caddo Commission for help moving the monument, questions remain over who owns the land. Monument supporters say the United Daughters of the Confederacy own the statue
The application for inclusion in National Register of Historical Places outlines the complicated history:
The police jury, the forerunner of the modern Caddo Parish Commission at that time, also reserved for the UDC a plot of land large enough to accommodate the monument on the Courthouse Square. This reservation, made on June 18, 1903, gave the UDC use of this plot in perpetuity, but did not actually convey or donate the plot to them. Although the police jury appears to have intended to do so, there is no record that such conveyance was actually ever made.
Hearing to remove Confederate monument from Caddo Parish Courthouse Grounds-Part#1
OPENING has VERY BAD AUDIO DUE TO MICROPHONE ISSUES AT MEETING. If you skip to Part#2 it is better!
Fate of courthouse's Confederate monument in limbo...
May 23 hearing ay Broadmoor Middle School on the proposal to remove the monument from the Caddo Courthouse grounds.
From the petition to remove:
We, the residents of Caddo Parish, submit that the time has come for the removal of the Confederate statue at the courthouse. It is time to take immediate action to remove this monument to slavery, sedition and racial oppression.
Additionally, it is our assertion that this statue subverts and undermines our core principles of liberty and justice for all. It is unconscionable that anyone going to the courthouse, a place promising equal justice for all, should be forced to do so under a shadow of injustice and suppression.
We appeal to the Caddo Parish Commission to outline and commit to a process for the timely and definitive removal of this statue.
Facts:
Louisiana is home to numerous Civil War museums & historic sites. Any of these dedicated locations would be an appropriate venue for the Confederate monument. The statue would finally be protected from repeated vandalism and preserved in its historic context, and the controversy surrounding its current placement would be resolved. (Source: crt.state.la.us/tourism/pressroom/history-and-heritage/civil-war-sites/)
The legality of removing Confederate monuments has been affirmed by both the City of New Orleans and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. (Source: courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-approves-removal-confederate-statues/)
The monument and its property do not belong to the Daughters of the Confederacy. Caddo Parish Attorney Donna Frazier stated the following in a special meeting of the Long Range Planning/Special Projects Committee on June 9, 2016: a title opinion was performed by United Title at the request of Mr. Dannye Malone, and the Parish does own the land that the monument sits on. There was a meeting of the Police Jury in 1903 that gave the use of that land to the United Daughters of the Confederacy at that time; however, that is not sufficient to convey title to that plat. That plat shows to belong to the Parish in the courthouse. She stated that the Parish owns the land that the monument sits on. Sadly, the Shreveport Chapter 237 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy continue to mislead the public by misrepresenting their ownership of this property. (Source: caddo.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/3753?fileID=3527)
No competitive bid process is required by law if removal of the statue costs less than $152,400.00. The City of New Orleans contracted the expeditious removal of the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statue for $150,000; therefore, the Caddo Parish Commission should be able to procure a removal contractor for $150,000.00 or less. (Source: nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/04/confederate_monuments_bid_limi.html)
This statue has only recently been accepted into the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places Program; it's entry date was January 29, 2014. The statue is also categorized as a representation of The Cult of the Lost Cause, which is described by the NPS as (dominating) Southern cultural history in the early twentieth century, and is still alive and well today. These facts are peripherally relevant to the perceived artistic & historic value of the statue, but do not in any way justify the statue's controversial location in our public square. (Source: nps.gov/nr/feature/places/13001124.htm)
Proponents of Confederate statues have publicly stated the following comments on a Shreveport-based website. These comments do not reflect the values of most Shreveporters or most Louisianans, but are an indication of the social divide that is perpetuated by people who are sympathetic to the antiquated cause of the Confederacy. Shreveporters are hopeful that the relocation of the Confederate statue to an appropriate museum will bring an end to divisive outbursts like these:
Burn the city, then they have to listen, it works for the other breed.
Non native radicals are pushing this agenda to reinterpret our history and culture...
Please call your legislators to end the cultural and historical cleansing of our state...These radicals want Andrew Jackson, Bienville, Joan of Arch (sic) and other statues gone!
...I think it is time to BURN DOWN the city...the CIVIL WAR should start anew.
What if the SOUTH had won the war?? Where would black people be right now?
You will not taint our proud and noble history with your black hatred for all that stood upright.
This is an act of war against an entire people.
(Source:
Suit seeks to block illegal removal of La. Confederate monument
The Caddo Parish Confederate Monument. SHREVEPORT, La. An organization that erected Caddo Parish's Confederate monument has filed a lawsuit to stop its removal. The Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy filed its lawsuit Thursday evening, soon after the Caddo Parish Commission voted, 7-5, to remove the monumentfrom the grounds of the parish courthouse. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to bar the monument's removal. The United Daughters of the Confederacyis a non-profit organization whose members must prove a blood relative served in the armed forces or the civil service of the Confederate States of America.
Commission Preident Wants Shreveport Police GPS Info
Caddo Commission President Steven Jackson talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about his request for GPS information from Shreveport Police Department patrol vehicles. Jackson says that, because the parish helped to pay for a portion of the SPD'd current fleet, he - and Caddo citizens - are entitled to the records to ensure that their tax dollars are going for the purpose intended.
Removal of Caddo Confederate monument temporarily blocked again as UDC files new suit
The Confederate monument on the front lawn of the Caddo Parish Courthouse isn’t going anywhere – at least for now.
Confederate Flag Removed from Caddo Parish Courthouse-MSNBC
It speaks for itself- She got most of the story accurately, but detailed accurately at CaddoForward.com
Caddo Parish Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from Courthouse Square
Today, at their regular business meeting, with little discussion, the Caddo Parish Commission voted with only one negative vote to remove the Confederate Flag from the Caddo Parish Courthouse Square. One Commissioner spoke against the motivations of the group for moving the flag.
Though it is widely believed that the Caddo Parish Commission donated the land where the Confederate Monument sits outside the Parish Courthouse to the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1903, that perception is mistaken. The records of the Caddo Parish Tax Assessor's Office reflect that the Parish of Caddo is in full ownership of the entire block which encompasses the location of the Confederate Monument at the courthouse square. Former parish attorney Dannye Malone and current parish attorney Charles Grubb have confirmed these findings.
In 2002, the Caddo Parish Commission requested that the Parish Attorney provide an opinion as to the ownership of the land where the monument sits. The Parish Attorney commissioned a thorough and independent review of the public records of the Caddo Parish Police Jury and/or the Caddo Parish Commission; the mortgage and conveyance records of the Caddo Parish Clerk of Court and/or Caddo Parish Tax Assessor's Office; consultations with Mr. Eric J. Brock, Social and Architectural Historian; and United Title of Louisiana, Inc. The findings of this review were outlined in a letter from Mr. Malone to the Commission dated March 28, 2002, which included:
On October 17, 1951, the Caddo Parish Police Jury authorized and instructed the custodian of the Caddo Parish Courthouse and Grounds to erect a flagpole on or adjacent to the Confederate monument on the courthouse lawn for the purpose of flying a Confederate flag.
The Parish of Caddo's ownership of Block 23, City of Shreveport, has been long since established by virtue of acquisitive prescription. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the Parish to provide maintenance of the courthouse square.
More information regarding this can be obtained at CaddoForward.com