‘Confederate’ NYC subway tiles to be altered

Yet another strangely-placed symbol of the Confederacy is being taken down in Yankee New York City. 

On Friday, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) announced plans to alter a tile design in the Times Square Subway station, which looks similar to the Confederate Flag. 

The New York Post had reported in 2015 that the tiles were designed nearly 100 years ago to evoke the flag, in honor of New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs, who had ties to the South. 

The MTA refuted this claim on Friday, saying that the design was actually a nod to Times Square’s nickname as the ‘Crossroads of the World’. 

New York City’s transit authority said Friday that they will be changing tile work in the Times Square subway station to look less like the Confederate Flag

Nonetheless,  he said the MTA would be changing the tile work anyway so that it doesn’t continue to confuse subway riders.

‘These are not Confederate flags, it is a design based on geometric forms that represent the “Crossroads of the World” and to avoid absolutely any confusion we will modify them to make that absolutely crystal clear,’ MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in a statement.   

The changing of the tiles appears to be in response to the unrest that happened last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

White supremacists marched on the city in protest of plans to remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

Counter-protesters came out to make a statement against the hate groups, and one person died when one of the white supremacist marchers drove his car into a group of people. 

Since then, monuments and statues honoring the Confederacy are being taken down across the country. 

There are even a few in Yankee-blue New York. On Thursday, plaques related to Robert E. Lee were taken down from outside a church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The plaques drew attention to the place where Lee reportedly planted a tree when he was stationed at Fort Hamilton as part of the Army Corps in his early military career. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the city will undergo a 90-day review of ‘all symbols of hate on city property’. 

Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo put pressure on the Army to rename two streets named for Lee and fellow Confederate General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’ at a base in Brooklyn. So far, the Army has resisted. 

Together, Cuomo and De Blasio are also asking for the removal of busts to Lee and Jackson that are displayed in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College.   

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk