Seeking solutions

Address past

As our nation grapples with the horrific events in Charlottesville, Houstonians are in a public dialogue about the Confederate monuments that sit on publicly owned land. These monuments are maintained with public dollars; yet they fail to reflect Houston’s public values of inclusivity and opportunity for all.

As a diverse and innovative community, we look to our elected leadership for a plan on how to proceed — whether it is to remove or reframe the Confederate symbols on public property.

Mayor Sylvester Turner heard from Houstonians who expressed concern that their tax dollars are being used to maintain Confederate monuments. He commissioned a study of all monuments located on public property. This evaluation and self-reflection is long overdue.

The inventory of public monuments will reveal one startling fact: There are currently no statues dedicated to any women on public property in the city of Houston. I suggest the late congresswoman and civil rights leader Barbara Jordan and the “mother of Houston,” Charlotte Marie Baldwin Allen, be at the top of the list of people we should honor. This moment of soul searching is an opportunity to determine how we value who we honor and how we frame our history.

The local Daughters of the Confederacy paid to build the Spirit of the Confederacy memorial statue in the first place, so we know that private residents can also raise the funds necessary to remove or recontextualize the Confederate symbols on public property.

City officials must find a way to honestly address our past without glorifying the instigators of the bloodiest and most grotesque era in our nation’s history. Christina Canales Gorczynski, Houston