The Battle Over The Caddo Confederate Monument Is Not A New One [VIDEO]

The recent fight to remove the Caddo Courthouse Confederate Monument has been fraught with emotion. Not long ago, the statue was voted to be moved from the Caddo Courthouse lawn, but several obstacles have kept it there long after the vote, causing protesters and counter-protesters to descend on the statue once again. One side sees the statue as a symbol of oppression, while the other side sees the statue as a historical landmark.

Not long ago I overheard someone say, "We've never experienced anything like this in Shreveport!" but come to find out, they were very wrong. A video from 30 years ago has surfaced on Facebook, and all the drama over the statue sounds all too familiar.

A man named Ronald Hamilton started a petition  to remove the monument 30 years ago. In the video you can see Hamilton and his associates meeting in front of the courthouse beating the streets trying to get signatures for his petition. The statement on the petition itself reads "I agree that a Confederate memorial on public property does not represent the history and ideas of all the citizens in Caddo Parish."

It started with a hard act of defiance when Hamilton burned a Confederate flag in front of the Caddo Courthouse monument. He was met with angry counter-protesters who still had patriotic feelings about the flag and statue. That wasn't enough to deter him from going door-to-door asking people to sign his petition to have the statue removed.

At the end of the video, Hamilton is quoted as saying "If the decision comes back, that it needs to remain. I can agree upon it, because then Due Process was taken."