New Orleans Divided....

NOLA.COM ran a story titled, Take 'Em Down NOLA calls for widespread removal, renaming of 'symbols of White Supremacy' that was so over the top, I had to leave a comment. It was deleted.

Soooooo, for those who are interested, I'm  posting it here.

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~~ To those who are hostile to the artifacts of Confederate history and heritage
Especially, but not exclusively, to Take 'Em Down NOLA ~~

---From those who support and respect Confederate history and heritage

We believe your wrong-headed crusade to instigate a Stalin-style cultural cleansing of your city will not prevail.

We disagree that Confederate symbols mean what you say they mean.

We disagree with your truncated and selective interpretation of the Confederacy's history.

We highly disapprove of your efforts to demonize those whose view of the Confederacy is different from yours.

A great many of us no longer silently acquiesce to the evilization of our Southern forebears (who were no worse than anyone else, particularly those who made war on them) or the misbegotten efforts to deprive us and our descendants of our heritage.

We believe that your claim that these "public symbols ... demean and psychologically terrorize" members of Take 'Em Down NOLA, or anyone else, is exaggerated in the extreme.

The list of targets in the Times Picayune article dated March 23 and updated March 24 -- particularly street, school and hospital names -- underscore our skepticism of the claim of "demeaning and terrorizing," which is contradicted and neutralized by the long-standing and widely held view of New Orleans as "The Big Easy" and a cultural center blending unique cuisine, Mardi Gras, river cruises, Saints football and, yes, the still-felt influence of its vibrant, multi-faceted history. Targeting and removing any facet will deface the remainder, endangering the entire edifice, and your city's status as a visitor destination will shrivel, and tourist revenues will evaporate.

We think that residents of and visitors to New Orleans are far more likely to be demeaned and terrorized by the astronomical crime in your city. From Wikipedia: "In 2011 there were 16,761 crimes in New Orleans including 200 murders, 163 forcible rapes and 14,013 property crimes. With a murder rate of 57.6 per 100,000, New Orleans had the highest murder rate of any U.S. city with a population of 100,000 or more in 2011 and ranked 28th in the world in 2014." Thus, we think your time, efforts and funds would be far better spent addressing real crime in your city, not imaginary or mis-named white supremacy.