AFTER DARK: Statue removal at UT. Texas Tribune

Last night, under cover of darkness, the University of Texas abruptly moved to relocate Confederacy-related statues from a prominent campus mall, the Texas Tribune reported.

..The surprise news came with little notice. University president Greg Fenves announced that the statues of Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston and John Reagan were being removed because they depict parts of American history that “run counter to the university’s core values” in an e-mail to the campus community just before 11 p.m. A statue of former Texas Gov. James Stephen Hogg was also marked for removal.

“We do not choose our history, but we choose what we honor and celebrate on our campus,” he wrote. “As UT students return in the coming week, I look forward to welcoming them here for a new academic year with a recommitment to an open, positive and inclusive learning environment for all.”

…The removal of the statues comes about a week after unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia surrounding the removal of Confederate statues in that college town. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists protested those statues’ removal, and clashed violently with counter-protesters. One person died in the violence.

“These events make it clear, now more than ever, that Confederate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism,” he said.

Become symbols? That’s why most of the existing statuary was put in place in the 20th century, to buttress Jim Crow.

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Jefferson Davis had been removed by Fenves a couple of years ago. Reagan, you ask? A Texan who was Confederate postmaster general. But ……. heritage!!!!

Not to worry. They are just moving three of the Rebels from the mall to the Briscoe Center for American History. A new site for Hogg hasn’t been determined.

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The Texas legislature, fresh off efforts to discriminate against women and LGBT people, can surely come up with a special session to protect the losers of the  Confederacy and all they stood for. It’s all kind of a piece, really. I’m at peace with the preservation of existing Confederate monuments in Arkansas. They reflect prevailing politics. They say what they mean and mean what they say. Their defense by the Republican Party speaks eloquently of Arkansas values.

On a related note: Mayor Mark Stodola’s weekly message says he’s joined other U.S. mayors in a compact to combat “hate, extremism and bigotry.” Here’s what the compact provides.

And speaking of Confederate statues:

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