Williamson County TX residents organize to remove confederate monument
Meanwhile the Texas Legislature tries to block monument removals
BY MICHAEL KING
11:35AM, TUE. MAY 7, 2019
Like most such monuments throughout the Southern states (and elsewhere), it dates not from the Civil War period or immediately thereafter – but from 1916, during the Jim Crow era of racist backlash against legal rights for African Americans ....
In recent months another local group, calling themselves the WilCo Patriots, has been circulating a petition requesting the monument be moved to a less prominent Georgetown site ...
Citing research reflecting the white supremacist history of the such monuments and their insulting and intimidating effects on African-American residents, the release quotes Wilco resident Audrey Amos-McGeehee: “The erection of the statue emboldens the glorification of the fight to keep slavery in place from over 150 years ago, while ignoring the abolition of slavery.”
Although similar efforts in Travis County (and on the UT-Austin campus) have been successful in convincing officials to “de-Confederate” some public spaces, thus far Williamson County Commissioners have resisted any action, providing only lip-service to further review. They may soon get an additional boost from the Legislature, where several bills have been filed that would make it more difficult for local jurisdictions to move or remove Confederate monuments. The most restrictive bill – HB 583, authored by James White, R-Woodville – would not only forbid the removal of such war monuments without state permission, it would criminalize any unpermitted removals. The bill – approved in committee, yet to be scheduled for the House floor, suggesting it might be foundering – would require approval of any move by a state agency (Historical Commission, Preservation Board), and relocation only to an “equally prominent location,” with violations punishable by fines or jail terms ...
https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-05-07/de-confederate-georgetown/
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