Removing Robert E. Lee's statue

has been reporting on the debate over Confederate monuments for nearly three years. Today. That debate is is charged as arguments to defund American police departments. When we began our research in 2017 we were surprised to learn why, and when many of the monuments were built, we decided to go to New Orleans to talk with the mayor at the time, Mitch Landrieu about his then controversial decision to remove four Confederate monuments. What we saw looked like a military operation. When the city of New Orleans removed a giant statue, P G T boat regard a Confederate general who ordered the first shots fired in the civil war. They did it in the dead of night. Construction crews were bulletproof helmets and vests on police snipers were stationed on rooftops nearby. Mitch Landrieu says it was impossible to find a local company that would take the job when we put the thing out to bid, the one contractor that God showed up at his life threatening at his car bombs His car is actually the car was