NEW ORLEANS - Divergent views on what should happen to Confederate monuments in New Orleans are being voiced at a lively, and sometimes disorderly, city council meeting.

The Rev. Shawn Anglim, a Methodist pastor, is among clergy who have spoken out in favor of taking down the monuments. Anglim told those gathered at Thursday's meeting to "Do the right thing. Do it for our children, and our children's children."

Opponents of the removal plan want the council to consider alternatives, including erecting other monuments to tell a wider narrative about the Civil War.

Michael Duplantier told the meeting: "We cannot hit a delete button for the messy parts of our history."

Others say the council should go further and remove statues and change street names they say are associated with "white supremacy." Activist Malcolm Suber calls the monuments "products of the Jim Crow era, an era when blacks were hunted and persecuted."