AUSTIN MONUMENTS: Push grows to take down Confederate memorials at Capitol
AUSTIN — A growing number of Texas lawmakers are calling for the removal of Confederate monuments, plaques and other memorials from the Capitol in the wake of racially charged protests in Charlottesville that left one woman dead and dozens injured.
Some legislators also are quietly planning a push to get rid of Confederate Heroes Day, an optional state holiday recognizing the birthday of Confederate Army Gen. Robert E. Lee.
But they know their fight will not be easy.
Already, Gov. Greg Abbott and some members of the board that oversees the Capitol grounds have voiced opposition to a call from Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, to consider removing the symbols.
Those who support Johnson’s cause, mainly Democrats, say they will work with him to see that the Confederate symbols are removed. But many are tempering their optimism, noting that similar efforts in the past have failed.
“All of us, members of color in particular, have brought this up ad nauseam,” said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who supports the current effort. “I am not saying it’s impossible. You chip away at this, and you keep using incidents to change the thinking of people in the state and in this country.”
Rod Welsh, executive director of the State Preservation Board, which oversees the Capitol grounds, said in a letter Friday to Johnson that the staff would review a plaque known as the Children of the Confederacy Creed.
“The State Preservation Board is aware of the evolving discussion concerning Confederate commemoration and is committed to thoughtful examination of this complex subject,” Welsh wrote.
The state board estimates there are about a dozen Confederate symbols or memorials scattered around the Capitol.
They include a plaque near the rotunda that claims slavery was not the cause of the Civil War, a statute of Lee surrounded by Confederate fighters and the Confederate flag etched into the pillar of a memorial topped with a bronze figure of a Confederate soldier.
‘We should be ashamed’
Johnson said he feels “insulted” when he sees the memorials at the Capitol.
The Children of the Confederacy Creed plaque, which is mounted just 40 steps from his office, reads, in part, ”We ... pledge ourselves ... to study and teach the truth of history (one of the most important of which is, that the war between the states was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery).”
Johnson asked for the board for an immediate removal of the plaque, noting that it is historically inaccurate.
“We should be ashamed, not proud, that Texas chose to commit treason against the United States in order to preserve, of all things, white supremacy,” Johnson said. “I feel embarrassed because the rest of the world seems to realize this except for us, which is why these inaccurate and offensive monuments remain in our Capitol to this day.”
Johnson’s efforts comes as many city and state officials are responding to the unrest in Charlottesville by revamping attempts to remove Confederate statutes and memorials from public spaces.
Last weekend, white nationalists in the Virginia college town protested the planned removal of a Lee statue. The rally drew hundreds of counter-protesters, one of whom was killed when a car crashed into the crowd.
In Houston, some residents have called for a monument in a Houston park be taken down. The “Spirit of the Confederacy” features a bronze statue of a winged angel holding a sword and palm leaf. Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered city staff to assess Houston’s public art.
In Baltimore, city officials removed Confederate symbols under the cover of darkness.
At the Texas Capitol, opponents of the removal effort are prepared to continue their defense.
“There are no Confederate monuments that are going to be removed from the Texas Capitol — not in the lifetime of someone alive now,” said Jerry Patterson, a former state senator and land commissioner who opposes removal.
Abbott, denouncing racism and hate, said “tearing down monuments won’t erase our nation’s past, and it doesn’t advance our nation’s future.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a member of the preservation board, said he does not tolerate racism, bigotry, hate or violence, but “that’s one reason I believe that we should not attempt to re-write history by removing evidence of people or events that we can learn from.”
A spokesman for House Speaker Joe Straus said in a written statement that Straus would like to see the board review the accuracy of signs and monuments around the Capitol. But Straus did not explicitly say he wants them removed.
Erasing history?
Lawmakers in Texas have long debated the appropriateness of the confederate symbols, but the shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., prompted a push to remove them from the Capitol.
A group of five lawmakers, all Democrats, called for the creation of a task force to conduct a comprehensive review of Confederate symbols to determine if the monuments are “historically accurate.” The lawmakers suggested the symbols often “espouse a whitewashed version of history.”
They sent their letter to Abbott, Patrick and Straus but nothing came of the request.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, who signed the letter, said the recent violence in Charlottesville should make the Legislature reconsider removing the Confederate symbols. She calls them “repulsive.”
“It is something that is long overdue,” she said. “It doesn’t represent true history.”
But Patterson, the former land commissioner, said they symbols do represent history and that’s there is no political will in the Legislature to remove them.
“Nor should there be,” he added. “If you are able to eliminate all of the Confederate monuments, who will they go after next?”
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, told the Express-News that he plans to refile a bill in the 2019 legislative session that would block cities and counties from removing any historic monuments on public property.
“We have had a lot of support and the conversation is just beginning,” Creighton said. “It’s important for me to have a conversation about the importance of maintaining out Texas history and our heritage.”
Holiday also questioned
Confederate Heroes Day is also drawing renewed attention.
The holiday is optional, meaning some state employees work while others do not. First declared a Texas holiday in 1931, the day recognizes Lee’s birthday and occasionally lands on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In 2015, after the Charleston attack, Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, authored a bill to change the name of the holiday to Civil War Remembrance Day. Her bill was inspired by a 13-year-old who proposed the new name,
Her bill failed to pass. In this year’s regular session, Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Desoto, also tried to change the name — likewise without success — to Civil War Remembrance Day.
Johnson said the state should also do away with the holiday, calling it “ridiculous.”
“There were no Confederate heroes,” he said. “They were traitors, no matter why they joined the Confederate Army.”
Despite the previous setbacks, Democrats pushing for the changes say they will not be deterred.
Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, plans to formally join Johnson’s cause and will send a similar letter asking that the preservation board review, and potentially take down, the Confederate symbols.
“The longer we don’t talk about this, the longer you are going to have these types of conflicts,” Moody said. “I don’t find there is any utility in being divisive.”