NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Celebrated New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard says he had just arrived home from an out-of-town trip when he saw the news: A monument to a Confederate general was being removed from its spot near his old high school.
NOLA.comThe Times-Picayune (https://bit.ly/2rqKQWv ) quotes Blanchard as saying the statue of P.G.T Beauregard had always been a sore spot with him. When he learned the removal effort had begun late Tuesday, he headed to the scene with his wife and two daughters.
Die-hard monument supporters say the removal was an affront to history. But Blanchard, an African-American, said he never took pride in the monument. He said the removal itself was a historic moment.
It was the third of four monuments to Confederate-era figures slated for removal in New Orleans.
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