Could This Be the End of the Mouton Statue?

A new motion filed by the City of Lafayette might just put an end to the Alfred Mouton statue discussion.

THE ALFRED MOUTON STATUE DEBATE:

The Alfred Mouton statue is right at the center of a very important conversation: how can we preserve history without praising those who were fighting to keep people in chains?

WHAT'S THE HISTORY OF THE ALFRED MOUTON STATUE?

The Alfred Mouton statue has looked over Lafayette from its perch at the corner of Jefferson and Lee Streets in Downtown for almost 100 years now, a full 155 years since his side lost the war. If math serves me correctly, the statue was donated and erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy during the Jim Crow days, so I understand why some are offended by the statue's presence.

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE ALFRED MOUTON STATUE NOW?

The latest development in the saga of the Mouton statue, according to KATC, is that the city attorneys are asking the courts to dismiss the challenge put forth by the Daughters of the Confederacy.

According to the story, when the idea to move the statue was brought up years ago, the Daughters of the Confederacy was granted an injunction that allowed the statue to stay put since it was a gift to the city from them. Even though the statue is on public property, that injunction still stands but is being challenged: city attorneys say that the local Daughters of the Confederacy chapter is no longer a valid organization.

WHAT HAS CHANGED ABOUT THE ALFRED MOUTON CASE?

Precedence has been set stating that if an organization no longer has members or any type of structure (I'm loosely paraphrasing the legal mumbo-jumbo here), then it can no longer be considered an organization. The city attorneys are arguing that the local chapter of the Daughters of the Side that Lost the War can no longer function as an organization, so the injunction should now be nullified and voidified (I think I just made up a word because Grammarly didn't recognize it).

I don't know any of the descendants of Alfred Mouton but I feel for them because, through no fault of their own, they are now associated with a man who led a large part of the fight to keep a certain group of people in servitude. I don't know if they are on the side of allowing the statue to remain or if they are on the side of having it removed, but if they want to be on what many people are seeing as the "right" side of history, they would join the fight to have the statue removed from public land (if they haven't already).