Acting with court approval, a work crew removed a Confederate statue on Monday from a prominent location in Louisville.
Work began about 6 a.m. to dismantle the John Breckenridge Castleman monument from Cherokee Triangle, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said. Shortly thereafter, only a bare pedestal remained. The decisive action followed a Jefferson Circuit Court ruling Friday after nearly two years of legal wrangling and vandalism.
The statue will be cleaned and stored until it can be moved, likely to Cave Hill Cemetery, where Castleman is buried, officials said.
Castleman was a Confederate soldier and later a U.S. general. He helped found Louisville’s park system. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s administration has pushed to relocate the statue because of Castleman’s ties to the Confederacy and support of slavery.
“Too many people are suffering today because the promises of justice and equality enshrined in our Constitution are unfulfilled by a society that devalues African-American lives and denies African Americans justice, opportunity and equity,” he said. “That’s got to change. People want and deserve action. We need a transformation.”
The statue has been vandalized multiple times in recent years. The mayor announced his intent to move it in 2018 based on findings of a local Public Art and Monuments Advisory Committee, but legal challenges delayed his plan.
The Associated Press
