RACISM: “The University of Texas removed four Confederate statues from its Austin campus early Monday [8-21-17] morning, amid growing pressure to take down such monuments in the wake of racist violence in Charlottesville.
University president Gregory L. Fenves announced the decision late Sunday night, saying the ‘horrific displays of hatred’ in Virginia had made it clear that Confederate statues had become ‘symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.’ Demonstrations by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 turned deadly after a neo-Nazi plowed a car into a crowd, killing one counterprotester and injuring at least 19 other people.
Fenves said he had considered the historical and cultural significance of four Confederate statues on campus — depicting Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, John Reagan and former Texas governor James Stephen Hogg — but concluded they were ‘severely compromised by what they symbolize.’
‘Erected during the period of Jim Crow laws and segregation, the statues represent the subjugation of African Americans,’ Fenves said in a statement. ‘That remains true today for white supremacists who use them to symbolize hatred and bigotry.’
And so, under heavy security and surrounded by a few dozen supporters and protesters, crews began taking down the statues from the Main Mall of the campus after midnight Sunday, the Associated Press reported. Tensions were high, and police diffused at least one argument.”
-Amy B. Wang, “University of Texas takes down four Confederate statues overnight,” The Washington Post online, Aug. 21, 2017 09:27am