Take ‘Em Down NOLA, the coalition of community organizations and leaders that rallied around the removal of confederate-era monuments in New Orleans, will hold a first-of-its-kind summit designed to commemorate, celebrate and strategically align efforts to remove statues and monuments that are symbols of White supremacy.
The conference will take place March 23-25 on the campus Southern University at New Orleans and will feature a kickoff event, plenary sessions, panels and workshops, keynote speakers, and a final protest action to promote a new ordinance to remove all symbols to White supremacy in the city of New Orleans. Attendees will be invited to put their shared knowledge and experience to use, to leave the meeting room and hit the streets together for a daytime action.
Take ‘Em Down NOLA spent two years organizing, building on efforts that began nearly four decades earlier, to successfully force the city government to take down four White supremacist monuments in New Orleans. The New Orleans City Council voted in December 2015 to remove four statues from the public space. The ordinance was also championed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Yet more than a year would pass before the statues of Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard and Jefferson Davis along with the Battle of Liberty Place Monument would be razed from their pedestals. The statue of Lee, the last of the four to come down, was removed on May 19, 2017.
Since then, White supremacist monuments have fallen in several cities around the southern United States. Organizers from around the country and the world who have been engaged in Take ‘Em Down movements in their respective communities are expected to attend the summit.
The featured keynote speakers will include Malcolm Suber, Angela Kinlaw, Michael Moore, Clyde Robertson and others.
To RSVP for the Take ‘Em Down Summit: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead, email: info@takeemdownnola.org.
