Confederate Monument Committee to decide statue’s fate by Feb 1.

[Skipper]

The Confederate Monument Committee is set to recommend an action regarding the Confederate statue on the Denton Square by Feb. 1. About 40 people spoke at the committee’s third to last

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[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

That one is one of the  stranger ones..... it is not just a statue .... originally the base of it had a water fountain ... for use by blacks... (they were not permitted to use the one inside the court-house) .... so to drink they had to drink outside and bow to the Confederate soldier.  I would rather they did not remove it because it demonstrates how things were at one time... We need a reminder of how things were.  .Now the building is a museum not a courthouse anymore.. . When I graduated HS no blacks in my HS class were allowed to attend any SWC school or even the Baptist College in my hometown ... and most lived within a mile of it.  A lot of younger people ( I am 74) just do not understand the situation were at one time. I never saw the fountain used because it had stopped by time I got to UNT but it was mentioned in some history classes. .  

.Most soldier statues are just about recognizing men in general that served their state and region and not about promoting slavery ... and I wish they would leave them alone.. .. This one is a bit different... but taking it down will not change what happened....  and just remind us of what has happened. 

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Edited January 23, 2018 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

[UNTLifer]

2 hours ago, SCREAMING EAGLE-66 said:

That one is one of the  stranger ones..... it is not just a statue .... originally the base of it had a water fountain ... for use by blacks... (they were not permitted to use the one inside the court-house) .... so to drink they had to drink outside and bow to the Confederate soldier.  I would rather they did not remove it because it demonstrates how things were at one time... We need a reminder of how things were.  .Now the building is a museum not a courthouse anymore.. . When I graduated HS no blacks in my HS class were allowed to attend any SWC school or even the Baptist College in my hometown ... and most lived within a mile of it.  A lot of younger people ( I am 74) just do not understand the situation were at one time. I never saw the fountain used because it had stopped by time I got to UNT but it was mentioned in some history classes. .  

.Most soldier statues are just about recognizing men in general that served their state and region and not about promoting slavery ... and I wish they would leave them alone.. .. This one is a bit different... but taking it down will not change what happened....  and just remind us of what has happened. 

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Well said.

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

I am normally in lock-step with my man SE-66, but disagree here. You can add pictures and explain how blacks used to have to bow to drink water... the evils of segregation... the south lost the war, but continued the battle with blacks, etc etc etc.

You don't have to keep some watered down cheap monument that now doesn't convey any of that. If you want to honor dead Americans who fought on the wrong side of the war, put it on their tombstones. 

Create a museum entry for how it used to be and not allow it to be washed and sanitized with time. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by SteaminWillieBeamin

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---Like I said this statue is a bit different.. .. this one  is more than just  a statue.... . I am not fighting to keep it... but if kept  it should tell people how things were and people should know...   It is not a monument to slavery or to some guy like Gen. Forrest who is largely responsible for the KKK. . I was shocked when I heard the story about the water fountain. [ I went to an integrated HS and a lot weren't then  ] I am not sure what to do with it ... but what happened should not be forgotten..... Even in Germany some concentration camps still remain... I have been to Dachau and trust me .. it is not about glorifying Hitler .. it is the absolute opposite....   That statue if kept should do the same ... show how bad things have been in the past and what went on. 

---As for most Confederate statues of common soldiers ... I and a lot of people of people consider them monuments to men who fought for their state and regions ... and not for slavery .... few owned slaves.  .... Are going to keep the union ones just because they won. .... how about of all  men prior to 1920..??   Were they bad people  because women were not allowed to vote then.??    Those Union soldiers apparently didn't care that women couldn't vote. .... Why not..does that make them  bad people??? ... This can be taken too far. 

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[SteaminWillieBeamin]

It really isn't a slippery slope though. There was no war to keep women down. If there were a statue memorializing all the men that died in their fight women's' suffrage, then absolutely I would say it should be removed from public space.

The Germany example is not even remotely the same. They kept the war CRIME locations as the monuments. They destroyed any and all Nazi public structures that memorialize their cause. They do not even talk about their fallen soldiers who died in the losing effort. 

So if you want how Germany was able to move on, then I agree. Get rid of these sanitized Jim Crow monuments. Keep the battlefields where they all died ... make them a memorial to how it was a losing effort for the wrong reasons. People can die in error and on the wrong side of the cause -- it happens. You don't need to keep a Jim Crow monument that was put up 70 years later. 

[southsideguy]

I have grown tried of the statue it stays or goes.  If we bring it down then knock it down with a bull dozer and take it to the dump and save the 40k.  If it is racist at the square it will be racist at a different location.  Knock it down and do not replace it with anything and it will not be upsetting to anyone. We may want to dig up Denton's grave also I notice on his sign he battled Native Americans.   I do not personally even notice the statue when i am at the square but I was never a slave or slave owner.  So I dont have any perspective on this to the group who is offended by it.  Even if we destroy it the history does not go away.  Is it history that I am proud of?  Heck no and I am sadden by anyone who thought it was a good thing.  We can move on from this and handle Denton's other problems like roads and crime.