CONFEDERATE MONUMENT- After years of public discussion, special committee meetings, legal challenges and various protests, the Confederate Monument at the Caddo Parish Courthouse grounds in downtown Shreveport will be moved to a site in DeSoto Parish near the Mansfield State Historic Site where the - Battle of Mansfield was fought during the American Civil War. According the The Shreveport Times, the announcement was made by the United Daughters of The Confederacy – who had been seeking a secure location for the monument. A portion of the statement issued by the UDC Shreveport Chapter reads:
“We are saddened that our monument will be moved from the parish courthouse, but it will be going to a place of honor and along side graves of Confederate heroes to fulfill its purpose as a tombstone for soldiers from Caddo Parish who died on distant battlefields."
-- Shreveport Chapter #237: United Daughters of the Confederacy --
The United States Supreme Court last year denied a petition from the local UDC chapter to prevent the removal of the Confederate Monument as an earlier court case had ruled that Caddo Parish had the right to remove the monument from property the parish owned. The controversy surrounding the monument involves Caddo parish’s long history as leading the nation in death penalty cases and excessive sentencing. Civil Rights advocates have claimed a monument honoring the Confederacy outside a courthouse cast some influence on juries during legal proceedings involving persons of color.
