Landrieu apologizes for city's role in slave trade

As the debate rages over the confederate flag in parts of the South, Mayor Mitch Landrieu held a forum to talk about race relations in New Orleans and around the country.

After the shootings in Charleston, S.C., Landrieu said he wants to have a committee look at all the confederate monuments and symbols in the city, including the Robert E. Lee monument at Lee Circle and the statue of Confederate Gen. G. T. Beauregard at City Park.

Landrieu's Welcome Table event was aimed at bringing together people from all walks of like at the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in Treme.

Landrieu said symbols matter and added that it was time to talk about the Robert E. Lee statue and Lee Circle, acknowledging how the name and statue bother some people but others say it is part of history.

People clapped when the mayor apologized for slavery and said the Lee statue at Lee Circle needs to be examined.

Landrieu's apology for New Orleans' role in slavery drew the largest applause. "Let me, as the chief executive officer of this government, in this city that one moment in history sold more slaves into slavery than anywhere else in America apologize for this country's history and legacy of slavery," Landrieu said.