A century old Jefferson Davis statue has come under attack by University of Texas students who claim that the Confederate president memorial is a reminder of slavery in the United States. Student leaders are even calling for the removal of the Davis statue, but those who wish to honor the memory of the Confederacy are fighting back.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , an Edward Snowden statue was illegally erected over a Brooklyn POW monument in order to honor the NSA whistleblower. Ironically, authorities were to quick to cover up the Snowden bust, although it was immediately replaced by a hologram .
In 1861, Jefferson Davis’ speech to the Senate explained why he believed a state had the right to secede from the Union.
“It is known to Senators who have served with me here, that I have for many years advocated, as an essential attribute of State sovereignty, the right of a State to secede from the Union… It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has brought Mississippi into her present decision. She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made… They have no reference to the slave.”
Due to this history, students have already defaced the Jefferson Davis statue with messages like “Davis must fall” and “Emancipate UT.” The NAACP is helping lead the charge, since they say that Davis’ only connection to Texas was the state’s ties to the Confederate States of America.
“I think it’s offensive that you exalt Jefferson Davis but you don’t exalt Abraham Lincoln,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP.
University of Texas senior Jamie Nalley has joined the Student Government majority in adopting a resolution to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the school grounds.
“We thought, there are those old ties to slavery and some would find it offensive,” he said.
Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center for American History at UT, claims the Jefferson Davis statue was commissioned during the early 1900s to remind everyone of states’ rights in relation to the federal government. According to Carleton, Confederate memorials were not built as a reminder of slavery.
As a middle ground solution, Carleton has also suggested adding plaques that explains the history of the Jefferson Davis statue.
“That’s not going to placate everyone, and I understand that, but I think it’s a lot better in explaining them to people rather than leaving it just as it is,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
The Texas Historical Commission has recognized more than 1,000 sites which honor the memory of the Confederacy. In fact, the number of locations and memorials is only growing, not shrinking, as time has passed. The Sons of Confederate Veterans believes their efforts are not racist or offensive, and they are calling on their political opponents to honor the diversity of the country’s history.
“I don’t think we’re trying to put up stuff just to put up stuff,” said Marshall Davis, spokesman for the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Texas. “We don’t want to impede anyone else from honoring their heroes. We would like to honor our heroes with the same consideration, tolerance, and diversity. The fact that the state of Texas joined the Confederate States of America is history. It happened. It’s not a matter of opinion.”
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[Image via Daily Texan Online ]