New Orleans mayor to receive Profile in Courage Award for removing Confederate monuments

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was chosen to receive the 2018 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his role in removing four Confederate monuments in New Orleans, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said Tuesday.

Landrieu will be honored at a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on May 20. The award will be presented by the president’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg.

“Mayor Landrieu turned a difficult and divisive issue into an opportunity to reflect on our nation’s history and to recommit ourselves to our founding principles of equality and justice,” Schlossberg said in a statement. “The mayor explained what the monuments represent — a dark chapter in our history that should neither be forgotten, misunderstood, nor glorified. In a year marked by continued racial injustice, in a moment of misguided national leadership and heightened division, Mayor Landrieu’s courage stands out brightly as an affirmative step in the right direction. President Kennedy believed that, at its best, politics was a noble profession — Mayor Landrieu is living proof of that bold proposition.”