Page 25 - bon-dia-aruba-20200603

A25
U.S. NEWS Wednesday 3 June 2020

Confederate monuments coming down around South amid protests

By JAY REEVES ate President Jefferson
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Davis, who was sworn in
— Sarah Collins Rudolph Montgomery. There, on
thought she'd never see the same day, someone
what happened in her knocked over a statue of
hometown: Prompted by Confederate Gen. Rob-
protests, the city removed ert E. Lee outside a mostly
a 115-year-old Confeder- black high school named
ate monument near where for him.
her sister and three other Four people were arrested
black girls died in a racist on criminal mischief charg-
church bombing in 1963. es, and the toppled statue
A wave of Confederate was removed.
memorial removals that In Alexandria, a city
began after a white su- spokesman said the United
premacist killed nine black Daughters of the Confed-
people at a Bible study in eracy informed the city
a church in South Carolina on Monday that it would
in 2015 is again rolling, with remove the statue, and
more relics of the Old South the city's only role was to
being removed from pub- provide traffic support. By
lic view after the killing of morning, the pedestal was
George Floyd by police in all that was left. City offi-
Minnesota. cials were not told where
In Birmingham, where Ru- the statue was taken.
dolph lives, the graffiti- Titled "Appomattox," it de-
covered, pocked base of picts a solitary Confeder-
a massive Confederate A tarp covers part of a Confederate monument Monday, June 1, 2020, on the University of Missis- ate soldier, his head bowed
monument was all that sippi campus in Oxford, Miss. slightly. In 1890, a state law
remained Tuesday after Associated Press was passed barring local
crews dismantled the tow- officials from ever removing
ering obelisk and trucked Rudolph, 69. "It didn't repre- outside Tampa, Florida, a rebel monuments were it. That law was repealed
it away in pieces over- sent the blacks. It just repre- Sons of Confederate Vet- challenged and removed earlier this year.
night. Other symbols came sented the hard times back erans chapter lowered a following the killings at Alexandria Mayor Justin
down elsewhere, leaving there a long time ago." huge Confederate battle Emanuel African Meth- Wilson tweeted photos of
an empty pedestal in Vir- Confederate symbols flag that has long been odist Episcopal Church in the removal on Tuesday,
ginia and a bare flagpole across the South have flown in view of two inter- Charleston, South Carolina. saying "Alexandria, like all
in Florida. been targeted for vandal- state highways. Alabama authorities said great cities, is constantly
Rudolph, whose sister Ad- ism during demonstrations Birmingham took down the Birmingham would face changing and evolving."
die Mae Collins died in the sparked by Floyd's death obelisk a day after pro- a $25,000 assessment for In Birmingham, Rudolph
bombing of 16th Street in police custody in Min- testers tried to remove the violating the state law, but saw the removal of the reb-
Baptist Church, had to neapolis. Now, even some monument themselves, Mayor Randall Woodfin el monument as unfinished
see the sight for herself. of their longtime defenders during one of the many said the fine was more af- business from decades
She lowered a protective have decided to remove nationwide protests. Crews fordable than the cost of ago. The more than 50-f00t-
face mask to take in the them. were preparing to finish the continued unrest in the city. tall (15-meter-tall) memo-
absence of an edifice she In Alexandria, Virginia, it job by pulling up the base. Online fundraising drives rial to Confederate soldiers
long considered a symbol was the United Daughters The monument had been raised more than enough and sailors was located
of oppression. of the Confederacy that the subject of a protract- money to pay the fine. just a few blocks from the
"I'm glad it's been removed took action early Tuesday, ed court battle between Work to remove the mon- church where Rudolph was
because it has been so removing the statue of a the city and state, which ument began Monday, badly injured and her sister
long, and we know that it's soldier gazing south from passed a law to protect which was Alabama's holi- died when a bomb went
a hate monument," said Old Town since 1889. And Confederate icons after day honoring Confeder- off on a Sunday morning.q
Tech-rights group sues Trump to stop social-media order

By TALI ARBEL The order was more politi- that protects internet com-
AP Technology Writer cal than substantive, with panies from lawsuits. They
NEW YORK (AP) — A tech- many experts questioning can't be sued for hosting
focused civil liberties group whether it was constitu- videos and posts from us-
on Tuesday sued to block tional. The president aimed ers, or for moderating their
President Donald Trump's to rally his supporters after services, with some excep-
executive order that seeks Twitter put fact checks on tions.
to regulate social media, two of his tweets. Trump, In its suit, the Center for De-
saying it violates the First without evidence, has long mocracy and Technology
Amendment and chills accused tech companies said that Trump's execu-
speech. of being biased against tive order violates the First
Trump's order, signed last conservatives. Amendment because it at-
week, could allow more The order targets cur- tacks Twitter for putting the
lawsuits against internet rent law — you may have fact checks on the presi-
companies like Twitter and heard recent references to dent's tweets, which CDT This April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Twitter app icon on a
Facebook for what their us- Section 230 of the Commu- said is Twitter's right as a pri- mobile phone in Philadelphia.
ers post, tweet and stream. nications Decency Act — vate company. q Associated Press