Hurricane Laura topples and destroys Confederate monument in Louisiana just two weeks after local parish voted to keep it standing in front of courthouse

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A controversial statue commemorating Confederate soldiers has fallen victim to Hurricane Laura just two weeks after local officials voted to keep it displayed on public grounds.

The South's Defenders Monument was seen shattered in pieces while the pedestal holding up the statue stood empty on the lawn in front of Calcasieu Parish Courthouse in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Thursday.

The monument, which has stood in that location since 1915, has been the subject of controversy as calls grew for it to be dismantled.

But local authorities voted 10-4 on August 13 to keep it in place.

Critics call it a symbol of racism that glorifies slavery. 

The South's Defenders monument in Lake Charles, Louisiana, was seen shattered in pieces by Hurricane Laura on Thursday

The pedestal holding up the statue stood empty on the lawn in front of Calcasieu Parish Courthouse in Lake Charles after the Category 4 storm made landfall hours earlier

Dedicated in 1915, the monument honors Confederate soldiers from the area and other towns across the South. The monument is seen before the hurricane  in the above stock image

But a Calcasieu Parish official said they asked for public comments, and got 878 written responses against relocating the monument, and only 67 in favor of moving it.

Now the pedestal is empty, and the Confederate statue is in pieces on the ground, victim to the Category 4 hurricane.

Hurricane Laura ripped through southwestern Louisiana on Thursday, destroying buildings in Lake Charles and killing at least five people after making landfall in the early morning as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state.

The hurricane’s first reported U.S. fatality was a 14-year-old girl in Leesville, Louisiana, who died when a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards said. 

Dedicated in 1915, the Lake Charles monument honors Confederate soldiers from the area and other towns across the South.

Parish officials had been taking public comments since late June about what to do with the statue amid calls around the country to remove Confederate monuments many see as symbols of racism.

Resident Gordon Simmons said he opposed removing the statue.

'This is political insanity and the scrubbing of our history has to stop,' said Simmons, who traces his lineage to the Confederacy.

Confederate monuments have been coming down across the South since the global demonstrations against racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minnesota.

Many residents at the meeting advocated for the removal of the monument, calling it a symbol that devalues people of color and recalls racial scars.

'Being a Black woman, the pain is real in my soul,' resident Lois Malveaux said.

Elsewhere in the South, Confederate monuments continue to come down. Crews on Wednesday began to remove parts of a large Confederate monument in the southeastern Virginia city of Portsmouth

Portsmouth’s City Council had voted unanimously to remove the monument and put it in storage

The monument was spray-painted with graffiti by Black Lives Matter supporters

A truck carrying portions of the Confederate monument drives along Court Street as crews begin work to take it down on Wednesday

The above undated file photo shows the Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, before it was vandalized and removed

An online petition posted on Change.org calling for the monument's removal drew more than 2,100 signatures.

'The statues do not educate the nation; they glorify defenders of slavery,' the petition's author, Ashlyn S. Hibbs, wrote.

'These monuments do not teach about the horrors of the American Civil War, nor do they remind of us why the battles were fought. 

'They simply cast a halo around those who died in a war that primarily sought to cement a place for slavery in our nation's future, and they do so under the guise of honoring the dead.'

Hibbs wrote: 'This monument brings no pride to Lake Charles. It brings no financial support, draws no tourism, and serves only to overlook the atrocities committed in the name of the Confederacy throughout history. 

'The monument stands for a history of oppression for a community that makes up about half of Lake Charles' population, and it disgusts the allies who stand with them. 

'Lake Charles is not represented by a bygone era of violence and slavery.'

Elsewhere in the South, Confederate monuments continue to come down.

Crews on Wednesday began to remove parts of a large Confederate monument in the southeastern Virginia city of Portsmouth.

The city’s Confederate monument spawned decades of controversy in the majority black city of nearly 100,000 people.

A state law passed earlier this year by the state Legislature’s new Democratic majority allows cities to remove Confederate monuments. 

Portsmouth’s City Council had voted unanimously to remove the monument and put it in storage.

The removal work is beginning more than two months after the monument was spray painted and heavily damaged. 

During a protest in June, heads of some of the statues were ripped off and one of the statues was pulled down, critically injuring a demonstrator.

State Senator Louise Lucas and several others were later charged by police for allegedly conspiring to cause the damage. Lucas has said she’ll be vindicated. Many have criticized the charges as being political.

The argument over Confederate monuments is part of a wider cultural war in the United States. The image above shows supporters and opponents of a Confederate monument arguing during clashes in Stone Mountain, Georgia, on August 15

At least 63 Confederate statues, monuments or markers have been removed from public land across the country since Floyd’s death on May 25, making 2020 one of the busiest years yet for removals, according to an Associated Press tally. 

Most were removed by government officials, though protesters have toppled some.

All but eight have come down in cities or metropolitan areas larger than 50,000 people. 

Most of the areas lean politically left, with 41 of the monuments removed in counties or equivalent areas that voted Democratic in the 2016 presidential election.

AP’s exclusive tally verified removals through government announcements, AP news coverage and other sources, then analyzed them based on census data and voting patterns.

Still, in a sign that the removal movement might be spreading, local governments in several less populous areas of Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina have recently approved removals but not yet taken down the monuments.

The sheer number of Confederate monuments still standing shows the enormous task for those seeking removals: More than 700 remain on public land, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Laws that protect the monuments in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee are slowing efforts. 

Virginia this year amended a similar law to let local governments take statues down.  

Monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests

There has been a renewed push to remove Confederate monuments following the death of George Floyd in the custody of police. 

In May and June 2020, a number of monuments and memorials were destroyed or removed, or commitments to remove them were announced.

Some had been the subject of lengthy, years-long efforts to remove them. Where legal avenues had all but failed, some monuments were deliberately broken.

Many statues of Christopher Columbus were removed, as he participated in abuses against Native Americans and his arrival in the Americas was the beginning of the genocide of Native American people.

Monuments to many other local figures connected with racism were also removed. Some pro-Union or anti-slavery monuments were also targeted, as they were seen to embody disrespectful attitudes towards Native Americans or the enslaved.  

At least 63 monuments or plaques in cities across the country have been removed since the protests began. 

General Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Richmond, Virginia

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal of several confederate statues.

'These statues, although symbolic, have cast shadows on the dreams of our children of color,' Stoney said. 'Let me be clear, removing these monuments is not a solution to the deeply embedded racial injustices in our city and nation, but is a down payment.'

The work began with the statues of General Stonewall Jackson, who became one of the best-known Confederate commanders, and General Robert E. Lee, who was the only president of the Confederate States of America. 

People watch as the Stonewall Jackson statue is removed from Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia on July 1, 2020

A statue of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis lies on the street after protesters pulled it down in Richmond, Virginia

John C. Calhoun, Charleston, South Carolina

Crews in Charleston tore down a statue of politician John C. Calhoun, a former Vice President of the United States, from its pedestal in Marion Square on June 24. He is remembered for strongly defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority states' rights in politics.  

Workers use cherry pickers to help remove the John C. Calhoun statue atop a monument in Marion Square in Charleston, South Carolina in June

The John Breckinridge Castleman monument, Louisville, Kentucky

John Breckinridge Castleman was a Confederate officer and later a United States Army brigadier general as well as a prominent landowner and businessman in Louisville, Kentucky.  The statue will eventually make its way to Cave Hill Cemetery, where Castleman is buried.

Jefferson Davis statue from Kentucky Capitol rotunda, Frankfort, Kentucky

The statue had been in the building since 1936. Five years ago, Frankfort officials voted to get rid of the statue, but ended up just removing the bronze plaque that was displayed in the front. 

Workers hoist a statue of Jefferson Davis after removing it from the Kentucky state Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky in early June

Charles Linn, a city founder who was in the Confederate Navy, in Birmingham, Alabama

Linn was a sailor, wholesaler, banker and industrialist. He was a captain in the Confederate Navy and later one of the founders of Birmingham, Alabama. 

Robert E. Lee that stood in front of Lee High School in Montgomery, Alabama

Robert Edward Lee was an American Confederate general best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 until its surrender in 1865. 

The Robert E. Lee Statue stands off its base at Lee High School in Montgomery, Alabama, pictured in June 2020. The school has a majority black student population

Edward Carmack, a former US senator, Nashville, Tennessee

Carmack was an attorney, newspaperman and political figure who served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1901 to 1907. Following his political service, and after an unsuccessful run for Governor of Tennessee, he became editor of the one-year-old Nashville Tennessean.  

Protesters toppled the statue of Edward Carmack outside the state Capitol after a peaceful demonstration turned violent at the end of May in Nashville, Tennessee

Confederate Adm. Raphael Semmes , Mobile, Alabama

Raphael Semmes was an officer in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. Until then, he had been a serving officer in the US Navy from 1826 to 1860. During the American Civil War, Semmes was captain of the cruiser CSS Alabama, the most successful commerce raider in maritime history, taking 65 prizes. 

The pedestal where the statue of Admiral Raphael Semmes stands empty, in Mobile, Alabama. The city of Mobile removed the Confederate statue without making any public announcements

Bronze statue of Confederate soldier named 'Appomattox' removed from Old Town Alexandria, Virginia

The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought in Appomattox County, Virginia, on the morning of April 9, 1865, was one of the last battles of the American Civil War.