The State Preservation Board voted Friday, January 11, 2019 to remove the Children of the Confederacy plaque on a wall near the Capitol Rotunda. State Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas appears to be the one Texan that was offended by this plaque.
Board members — Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton; state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano; and citizen member Alethea Swann Bugg voted unanimously to remove the plaque. The little problem with this decision is they failed to seek public input from Texans on the issue before voting. Big mistake.
In an effort to save face they scheduled a public hearing on January 25th. I arrived at 8:30am to a room that was filling quickly with determined Texans. There was plenty of media present. Absent were Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Dennis Bonnen. They sent proxies in their place. Rep. Jeff Leach made a motion to allow 90 days for public input. I would say this was too little, too late. I would say we had about 40 people in attendance with the majority testifying. Of those that testified, only one spoke in favor of the plaque being removed.
My testimony focused on regardless of how one feels about the inscription on the plaque, it is a part of Texas history. We have bad and good history. We do not simply remove historical plaques or monuments because someone becomes offended. I found it necessary to remind this board that they have proved they could not be trusted with any of our historical monuments much less a plaque.
There were a couple of testimonies that stood out. I must give a hat tip to Dave Roberts. As this tall Texan swaggered up to the podium I had a feeling this board was about to be owned. They were. He made a point of providing the board with a bit of silence followed by the question, “Did you enjoy that silence?” “I hope you did because it will not last any longer. We are not going anywhere!”.
This was “our” red flag moment. I doubt they will return this plaque to its original location. I believe they showed their hand and we must stay informed and diligent to protect our monuments and sacred sites.
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