As social justice warriors continue to proclaim everything from American history to be toxic & racist, cancel culture has come for a centuries old statue in Houston, Texas placed in Sam Houston Park in 1908.
Yesterday Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced he'll be removing two Civil War monuments because they were erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Mayor Turner's official announcement proclaims:
Today, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the City of Houston plans to relocate the Dowling and Spirit of Confederacy statues, which are currently both located in two City of Houston parks.
The statues will be removed by Friday, June 19, in commemoration of the Juneteenth holiday, which memorializes the day slaves in Texas learned the Emancipation Proclamation granted their freedom.
In August 2017, Mayor Sylvester Turner appointed a task force of historians, community leaders, and department directors to review the City's inventory of items related to the confederacy and recommend appropriate action.
The task force recommended that the statues be removed from Houston public property and not be destroyed. (Click the links for the final report and final appendix).
After the task force submitted its findings, the City began working on a plan with partner organizations and funders to identify new locations to place the statues permanently.
The two relevant statues in local public parks will be relocated, at no public expense, to separate sites that provide greater historical context for public viewing.
The Houston Endowment has provided a grant to transfer the Spirit of The Confederacy in Sam Houston Park downtown to be displayed at the Houston Museum of African American Culture in the Museum District.
A statue of Richard W. "Dick" Dowling in Hermann Park is expected to be moved to a permanent display at the Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site in Port Arthur, TX. The Executive Committee of the Texas Historical Commission voted to accept the statute and the full Commission will consider the item at its quarterly meeting on June 17.
"While we have been working on a plan for some time, I have decided to move forward now considering the events of the past several weeks, Mayor Turner said. "Our plan for relocating confederate statues from public parks to locations more relevant to modern times preserves history and provides an opportunity for our city to heal.”
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana