And there they go. Lee and Jackson sailing through air onto flatbed truck in Baltimore at 3:40 AM. An amazing sight. pic.twitter.com/4SzRYRiVOB [1]
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) August 16, 2017 [2]
After the white supremacist and neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville [3], VA, left three people dead over the weekend, the city of Baltimore is taking a major step to prevent similar violence, and it's a sign of hope our country needs right now. Early Wednesday morning, monuments honoring Confederate "heroes" were removed throughout the city, and according to reporters on the scene [4], it was "peaceful."
Cranes and flatbed trucks rolled away all four of the Confederate monuments. The statues were placed following the Civil War, but the Baltimore leadership decided it was important that they be removed immediately [5]. "Mayor Catherine Pugh announced earlier this week that the Confederate Monuments would be removed," a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. "She decided it was time and ordered it be done overnight."
"The police are being cheerful and encouraging people to take photos and selfies," Baynard Woods, the editor at large of The Baltimore City Paper, told The New York Times, adding that the removal [6] was "celebratory."
Considering that the violence in Charlottesville erupted after the removal of a similar monument of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, the mayor of Baltimore wanted the four statues removed quickly and quietly overnight. With President Donald Trump speaking out against the removal of Confederate monuments [8], Baltimore is the tiny sliver of hope we needed.
Check out some of the footage from the removal in Baltimore below.
They rode in on the Lost Cause. They rode out on a flatbed truck. pic.twitter.com/CfRlluk5s0 [9]
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) August 16, 2017 [10]
Celebrating at 4:20 AM on the base of the removed Lee-Jackson monument, Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/e8BtHLYtpD [11]
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) August 16, 2017 [12]
#BREAKING [13] Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger #Taney [14] statue taken down in #Baltimore [15]. Slavery defender. @WPTV [16] pic.twitter.com/2cptImr0nf [17]
— Chris Stewart (@CStewartWPTV) August 16, 2017 [18]
Daughters of Confederacy monument on Mt Royal coming down pic.twitter.com/XZarWD4IKZ [19]
— Baynard Woods (@baynardwoods) August 16, 2017 [20]