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Community members calling for confederate statue removal during town hall

Community members calling for confederate statue removal during town hall
Posted at 11:12 PM, Jun 24, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-25 00:12:53-04

Some calling for change made also made their voices heard at Lafayette City Hall tonight.

Community members are calling General Alfred Mouton's statue removed from downtown Lafayette. Community members took their concerns to Mayor-President Josh Guillory during his town hall.

Mayor-President Josh Guillory was faced with tough questions about the confederate monument in downtown Lafayette.

"I'm questioning how much good that statue does but I definitely can see how it hurts people and what it represents and learning the history," said Guillory.

The Mayor-President says he's open to having a dialogue about the issue and points to his presence at the black lives matter rally earlier this month.

"I haven't been silent on it that's for sure. If you go back to the George Floyd incident, which there's no words. I've said it at council meetings. I've said that at I don't know how many interviews that day at UL. I definitely denounce injustice, I definitely denounce racism and racism within our police force and police forces across the country," said Guillory.

For some community members, that's not enough.

"General Mouton was a gruesome slave owner and having that standing downtown just reminds everybody that they're not ready to let this go. It's gonna stand there and hang over us and hang over our community until it's gone. He doesn't seem quite as wanting to get rid of it, rid of that at the moment and we're advocating for it to be removed," said town hall participant, Peter Savoca.

"I just feel like Lafayette has a lot of work to do as far as making the black community and all minorities feel like a little bit more welcomed," said town hall participant Morgan Prejean.

There have been continued protests at the Mouton statue. Some protesters saying they'll keep doing so until the statue is taken down.

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