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Baltimore Removes Four Confederate Statues In Dead Of Night

Phillip Stucky, TheDCNF.

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Amber Randall Civil Rights Reporter
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The city of Baltimore quietly removed its Confederate statues late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

City workers and police officers worked together to take down four monuments in cover of darkness, in keeping with a vote to remove the statues. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and the city council voted unanimously Monday to remove their four Confederate monuments, reports CNN.

The city removed the Robert E. Lee and Thomas J ‘”Stonewall” Jackson monument, the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument and a monument dedicated to Roger B. Taney, using cranes and flatbed trucks to cart them away around 3:30 a.m.

Taney, as Supreme Court Justice, wrote the decision in the Dred Scott case, arguing that black people had no right to United States citizenship. While Taney was not a member of the Confederacy, many southerners honored his court ruling.

One Baltimore council member proposed destroying the statues instead of just removing them.

“These people were terrorists. They were traitors. Why are we honoring them?” Councilman Brandon M. Scott said during the meeting.

Some people came out to watch the removal of the statues, Baynard Woods, the editor of The Baltimore City Paper, told The New York Times. He described the general atmosphere as “celebratory.”

“The police are being cheerful and encouraging people to take photos and selfies,” Woods told the outlet.

A group of black people spray painted the pedestal of the monument with “Black Lives Matter” and took pictures on top of it.

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Tags : baltimore
Amber Randall