A Louisiana man has asked for a change of venue for his criminal trial, claiming that as a black man he can't get a fair trial in a courthouse that has a Confederate statue out front.

Ronnie Anderson, who is facing a charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in East Feliciana Parish, filed the motion yesterday.

Anderson says the Confederate statue in front of the 178-year-old courthouse "carries a message to African Americans of intimidation and oppression, communicating that justice may not be fair and impartial at a Courthouse that was nostalgic and sentimental over the institution of slavery that the Confederacy fought for in the American Civil War."

The statue was erected in 1909, the motion alleges and is more than 30 feet high.
http://www.katc.com/story/38665477/m...ederate-statue