The University of Texas at Austin has been paying attention to the news lately.
UT took down four Confederate statues with no warning. One of the four was of Gen. Robert E. Lee who commanded the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The other three statues were of Albert Sidney Johnston, John Reagan and James Stephen Hogg.
The main reason the university ultimately decided to take down the statues was because of Charlottesville, Virginia and President Trump.
Gregory Fenves, UTs president, said in his statement how horrifying and sad the acts of hatred in Charlottesville were. “These events make it clear, now more than ever, that Confederate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.”
The woke president continued his statement by writing how the statues were put up during the Jim Crow era and they “represent the subjugation of African Americans. That remains true today for white supremacists who use them to symbolize hatred and bigotry.”
His powerful statement comes after a tumultuous week for America. In Charlottesville, Virginia on the University of Virginia campus there was a rally to protest the removal of a Confederate statue on campus. The rally was filled with white supremacist donning swastikas and KKK garb. There was a terror attack during the rally and Heather Heyer lost her life.
President Trump did not immediately condemn the neo-Nazi’s and white supremacists. He actually said there was fault on both sides and good people on both sides.
Since then Americans have been protesting to take down all Confederate statues.
Fenves ended his statement with the same reason why so many people think Confederate statues should be eradicated. He wrote that even though the university’s job is to study history it is also it’s job to recognize that sometimes history doesn’t line up with the university’s values.
He continued by writing “We do not choose out history, but we choose what we honor and celebrate on our campus.”
The Confederacy was a huge part of American history and can’t be ignored, but it shouldn’t be celebrated with statues.