Straus says Civil War plaque should be removed
Republican House speaker calls sign at the Texas Capitol ‘blatantly inaccurate’
House Speaker Joe Straus says a “blatantly inaccurate” plaque in the Texas Capitol suggesting the Civil War was not fought to protect slavery should be taken down and that other monuments to the Confederacy should be reviewed.
AUSTIN — It didn’t have the drama of a crane being brought in to haul away a monument, but Texas House Speaker Joe Straus on Tuesday called for the removal of a Confederate plaque from the state Capitol building, a small but significant move in a yearslong debate on the prominence of Confederate symbols on the Capitol grounds.
The Children of the Confederacy Creed plaque on the first floor 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).”
In a letter to his fellow members of the State Preservation Board, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Straus said historical information displayed on the Capitol grounds should be
“accurate and appropriate,” and the plaque does not meet that standard.
“The plaque says that the Civil War was not an act of rebellion and was not primarily about slavery. This is not accurate, and Texans are not well-served by incorrect information about our history,” Straus wrote. He called for a quick consensus to “begin the process of removing the blatantly inaccurate plaque on the Capitol’s first floor.”
First GOP removal call
Straus is the most prominent Republican and first member of the preservation board, which oversees the Capitol grounds, to call for the removal of a Confederate symbol.
Others, mainly Democrats, have called for the plaques’ removal and a review of the other memorials around the grounds for several years.
Most recently, Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, called for the immediate removal of the plaque in August, along with a review of other Confederate symbols around the Capitol.
The state board estimates there are about a dozen symbols or memorials.
They include a statue of Robert E. 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.
Johnson said he was pleased that Straus agrees that the plaque, which sits about 40 feet from Johnson’s office, should come down.
“I am confident that it will come down soon,” Johnson said. “Speaker Straus and the other members of the State Preservation Board are well educated, honest folks. I think once they’ve all taken the time to read the plaque and compare it to the historical record, they will come to same conclusion Speaker Straus and I did.”
Despite Straus’ support, Johnson said there is still much work to do.
Efforts to remove the symbols have failed in years past.
There have also been failed efforts to get rid of Confederate Heroes Day, an optional state holiday recognizing the birthday of Lee.
“All of us, members of color in particular, have brought this up ad nauseam,” Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, told the Houston Chronicle in August.
“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.”
Meeting delayed
Two other lawmakers have also recently asked for a review of the Confederate monuments, citing the racial clashes in Charlottesville, Va., over the removal of a Confederate statue that resulted in the death of a woman.
None of the members of the preservation board, including Abbott and Patrick, responded to requests for comment.
Patrick previously said the state should not attempt to rewrite history by removing the Confederate memorials.
In August, Abbott and other members of the board voiced opposition to remove the symbols, saying tearing down monuments won’t erase the nation’s past.
Abbott agreed to meet with Johnson after his original request, but their meeting was delayed because of Hurricane Harvey, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The meeting has not been rescheduled.