Baltimore Removes Confederate Statues Overnight

Photo credit: Jerry Jackson for the Baltimore Sun

The city removed several Confederate statues in an overnight operation.

In a report from NPR, workers used cranes to remove Confederate statues commemorating Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Roger B. Taney (author of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott opinion) late last night. The decision came a year after a mayoral commission decided to take down the statues of Lee, Jackson, and Taney.

Initially, the commission had recommended keeping two Confederate artifacts, the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument and the Confederate Women's of Maryland Monument, but following the violence that took place in Charlottesville, decided to remove all of them.

READ: Trump Returns To Blaming 'Both Sides' For Deadly Violence In Charlottesville

"It's done," Mayor Catherine Pugh said Wednesday to The Baltimore Sun. "They needed to come down. My concern is for the safety and security of our people. We moved as quickly as we could."

The violence that occurred in Charlottesville was a result of the "Unite The Right" white supremacist rally, which included alt-right members, KKK members, and Nazis. Ultimately, the protest resulted in the death of 32-year-old Heather Hayer, who was hit by white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. when he drove his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters.

Confederate statues throughout the country are continuing to be removed. On Tuesday, a group of protesters in Durham, North Carolina, forcibly removed a Confederate commemoration. Ultimately, it resulted in the arrest of 22-year-old Takiyah Thompson, an N.C. Central University student who had climbed the Confederate statue in solidarity with other protesters.

Source: npr.org