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posted by FatPhil on Tuesday August 22 2017, @04:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-could-tar-and-feather-them dept.

The President of the University of Texas at Austin released a letter regarding the removal of statues on the campus.

[...] The University of Texas at Austin is a public educational and research institution, first and foremost. The historical and cultural significance of the Confederate statues on our campus — and the connections that individuals have with them — are severely compromised by what they symbolize. Erected during the period of Jim Crow laws and segregation, the statues represent the subjugation of African Americans. That remains true today for white supremacists who use them to symbolize hatred and bigotry.

The University of Texas at Austin has a duty to preserve and study history. But our duty also compels us to acknowledge that those parts of our history that run counter to the university's core values, the values of our state and the enduring values of our nation do not belong on pedestals in the heart of the Forty Acres.

The issue isn't a new one, they first looked into the issue in 2015, and had a wide range of options including effectively turning the mall into an open air museum, which they eventually decided against. Should the statues be relocated from their historical context just because of the attitudes and behaviour of noisy minorities? (Your humble editor cannot forget the local riots when a historical but hostile-themed statue was relocated.)


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  • (Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:32AM (2 children)

    by dry (223) on Wednesday August 23 2017, @06:32AM (#557865) Journal

    It's not treason as long as a person is following what he considers to be the legitimate government. The Confederates (at least the common man) did believe they had a right to secede from the Union and establish their own government.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by urza9814 on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:35PM (1 child)

    by urza9814 (3954) on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:35PM (#558040) Journal

    They're still a defeated and occupied enemy foreign power. Do we erect statues to Hitler or Hussein? No -- we don't build them, we don't preserve them, we tear them the fuck down.

    • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday August 24 2017, @01:38AM

      by dry (223) on Thursday August 24 2017, @01:38AM (#558271) Journal

      'Twas only the terminology of calling them traitors that I objected to. Too many times traitor has been used for bullshit reasons.