Confederate 'monuments were a lie,' Mitch Landrieu says on '60 Minutes'

● HNN's Complete Coverage of the Statues Debate

● How I Learned About the “Cult of the Lost Cause” By Mitch Landrieu

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening (March 11), during which he described the four Confederate monuments he removed as "a lie," and discussed how they had been erected as an attempt to redefine history.

Landrieu went on to explain how the statues, as well as others still in place, misrepresented history and continued to oppress people of color over 150 years after the Confederacy lost the Civil War.

"In a city that I represent, that's 67 percent African-American, to have a young African-American girl pass by that statue and look at it every day, I ask myself, 'Am I really preparing for her -- a really good future? Is she feeling like she's gettin' lifted up by the government or is she being put down?' I mean, I think the answer's pretty clear," Landrieu said during his interview with Anderson Cooper.