Confederate monument in Pioneer Park prepared to come down.

It looks like all the preparations have been done to take down the Confederate monument in Pioneer Park. The ramp to bring down the monument and statues is built and some type of structure has been built around two of the monuments.

It isn't clear though when the monument is going to be taken down, but it does look like everything has been done to take it down.

You can watch the progress from this webcam, but whether it will be operable when the monument is being taken down I don't know. It might or might not. This is the City of Dallas' webcam and they might not want people to be viewing as a security measure.

https://wxyzwebcams.com/network/mobile.php?lang=en&country=united_states&state=texas&city=dallas

It happens to be the best view of the monumnet since at the location there is a high fence blocking the view.

Dallas Parks have a 11 pm curfew so it might be that the monument will be taken down during the middle of the night. The police could exclude everyone from the park which would keep the public even further back.

Counter revolution is in progress to retain Confederate monuments

This WBAP news show is of interest.

http://www.wbap.com/2019/11/08/rick-roberts-show-should-dallas-keep-confederate-monument/

They are organized. They are able to raise $50,000.

In contrast there is no real organization driving getting rid of Confederate monuments. Celebrity activists showed up to testify against Confederate monuments and be before news cameras, but no long term working effort.

Looks like it is going to take time for the Confederate War Memorial court case to be done.

CONFEDERATE WAR MEMORIAL SEEMS LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE AROUND FOR SOMETIME.

It looks like this is going to be working its way through the courts for some time.

The case wasn't summarily dismissed and so far it has gone from 6/27/2019 to 7/30/2019 in terms of case events. See following link.

Perhaps the judge might just issue an opinion tomorrow, but I think that there is likely to be some more filings and then the judge has to write up his opinion.

I think the monument is going to be here in the Fall at least and maybe into Winter.

http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=05-19-00774-CV&coa=coa05

The status of the Confederate War Memorial in Pioneer Park, is it ready to go or not.

I went down to get photo documentation of the Confederate War Memorial in Pioneer Park. I heard there was a barricade and also that the monuments were being wrapped. I SO MUCH ENJOYED SEEING THIS.

I want to discuss some issues, but first some pictures of the barricade and monument.

There were some gaps in the wrapping placed around the fence.

So at first glance it looks like they are being wrapped up to go. This has upset the Dallas No. 6 local chapter of the UDC since they have an appeal to the Dallas Plan Commission about this. If they are wrapped up to go, it is an action that assumes that a decision by Dallas Plan Comision is already made.

https://www.facebook.com/dallas6udc/posts/10157069842906310

Also, another development is that the decision by the Dallas Landmark Commission has been appealed at the last moment. This is the article on that appeal.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/04/02/whats-happening-dallas-confederate-war-memorial

Very critically the article mentions that the appeal comes before the Dallas Plan Commission on May 16, 2019. The elections for the Dallas mayor and for the Dallas city council is on May 4th. I don't know when the elected officials are seated. But the Dallas Plan Commission will be voting after the new City Council and Mayor has been elected. The City Plan Commission might just decide to make a decision after the new city council and mayor are sworn into office, or just delay the decision to the new City Plan Commission.

Or it could be that they are just going ahead and voting for the removal. I think that the Dallas powers that be are for the removal.

The wrapping of the monument might be for protection before the final removal or it might just getting ready for removal and the tarps are part of the method that will be used for the removal. I don't know. I tend to think that they are getting prepared for removal and the Dallas Plan Commission decision is a foregone conclusion regardless of what the local neo-Confederates might have to say.

However, I wouldn't conclude that it is a done deal. A lawsuit might be filed. Which would delay removal further. A newly seated mayor and city council might want to make a decision about the removal and review the issue. Though I think that for most newly elected city council members it is something they don't want to have to deal with. And the plan might be that the final decision will be made by outgoing committtes and commissions.

Meanwhile efforts are underway at the state Capitol to pass legislation blocking removal of monuments. With all these delays, and if the state monument bill is passed into law, the monument might be stuck here if the law takes effect before the monument is removed.

I really don't know how much real support there is for a bill to protect Confederate monuments in the Texas state legislatures and whether the Texas governor really would want to sign it, but it is a possibility.

I think the monument is going, but I don't think it is entirely a sure thing. We will need to watch after events develop.

If for some reason the monuments are delayed such that a Texas state bill makes it impossible to remove them, I am going to start a Dallas boycott campaign. It will encourage Dallas to lobby for the bills repeal. It will be an example for other cities elsewhere to not delay such that their Confederate monuments get pinned down. I have already written up a proposal for my professional society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science to boycott cities that refuse to remove their Confederate monuments or have Confederate monuments past 2020.

BUT SEEING THEM WRAPPED UP IS GREAT!

Dallas Landmark Commission Decision Appealed

According to a posting on the Dallas Chapter No. 6, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Facebook page, a member,  as an individual has filed an official appeal to the Dallas City Planning Commission regarding the Landmarks Commission vote that the the Confederate War Memorial in Pioneer Park wasn't a part of the historical overlay.

https://www.facebook.com/dallas6udc/posts/10157052922156310

They had 30 days to make the appeal of the March 4th decision and the dead line would be April 4th.

There wasn't a need to go through the Landmark Commission as I explain in this posting.

https://dallaslandscape.blogspot.com/2019/02/dallas-city-council-doesnt-have-to-have.html

I don't know how long the appeal process will take. After the appeal with the Dallas City Planning Commission is exhausted, I wonder if a lawsuit could then be filed. Or could their be an appeal to the Dallas City Council?

You might say that the Dallas City Council voted for this to go before the Landmark Commission and they did. That doesn't mean there isn't some municipal code for an appeal of the Dallas City Planning Commission decisions. It could be another delay of another month maybe. The Dallas City Council could change their mind again on this monument. They have once in the last year.

While all these delays are in progress will the state of Texas make a law preventing the removal of Confederate monuments.

I have privately stated that I didn't think it was a done deal on the removal of the Confederate monument and that there were some potential things that could derail the removal of the monument as the Dallas City Council has chosen to do it. I don't know if the process has been derailed yet, but I will be watching closely. Maybe the process of removal just need to be delayed long enough for the Texas state legislature to pass a law blocking the removal of the monuments.

However, what ever the series of events might be, if the monument isn't gone at some point, the boycott of Dallas begins.

Neo-Confederate goes bonkers

The Landmark Commission voted 10 to 5 to rule the Confederate Monument was not part of some technicality so it could be removed.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2019/03/04/confederate-war-memorial-one-step-closer-coming-dallas-landmark-commission-approves-removal

At the end there was some entertainment when a neo-Confederate went bonkers. They really are outraged that their little delusions are no longer taken seriously.

https://youtu.be/tkkhCNcCntM

I did hand out to all the Landmark Commission members a 159 page history of the monument. If they had voted against renewal I wanted them to know what they were supporting.  I also wanted them to know that I do fairly deep research and get the word out and about that I do so.

This rather surprising argument was given by Donald Payton, the only African American member of the Landmark Commission.

Donald Payton, the only black member of the Landmark Commission, said it was beyond time for the memorial’s removal. He said Dallas will still have streets, building and schools that honor those who fought for the Confederacy. 

“If they think [this memorial is] the only thing in this city that’s a memory to the Confederate dead, we’ve got more than enough,” Payton said.

Of course we will be going after the streets and buildings and schools. The John H. Reagan school needs to be changed and since Austin ISD changed theirs, I will be writing Dallas ISD to get their John H. Reagan school changed. I have been writing up the history of the wretch individuals for whom some schools are named.

You also got to see the Old Guard of Dallas cultural institutions show up. It is good that they learned that they don't count anymore and are relics of the past. Former Landmark Commission Chair Reaves-Poggi you are a relic of racist Dallas.

SMITHSONIAN Coverage of the Confederate War Memorial vote to have it removed by the Dallas City Council

The Smithsonian article is online here.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews-history-archaeology/dallas-city-council-votes-remove-massive-confederate-war-memorial-180971503/

This Smithsonian has changed a lot since it was publishing stuff criticizing suggesting that Richmond, Virginia, which still hasn't gotten rid of any Confederate monuments, was somehow wiser than New Orleans which got rid of them all.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-richmond-has-gotten-right-about-interpreting-its-confederate-history-180963354/

My presentation to the Dallas City Council briefing on 2/6/2019

I kept it short. I wanted them to know that there was a lot more to the Confederate War Memorial than they realize to keep them motivated to get rid of the monument.

20190206 SPEAKING BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL BRIEFING

The Confederate War Memorial is about lynching in two ways in addition to the connection because of the Cabell medallion on the monument.

John H. Reagan glorifies the violence in the overthrow of Reconstruction in his Confederate War Memorial speech as part of a continuing neo-Confederate celebration of violence to maintain white supremacy and plowing the ground for the Ku Klux Klan to take root in Texas and in particular Dallas in the 1920s.

The other speakers assert that the Confederate soldiers and leaders were martyrs for states’ rights, the ideology which would be used to block federal anti-lynching legislation for decades.

This would be the ideology used by that monster, Dallas’ Congressional Representative Hatton W. Sumner, in his campaigns against anti-lynching legislation, he played a leading role in blocking both the Dyer bill of 1922 and the Wagner-Costigan bill in 1937.

Both ideologies expressed at the dedication are behind the threaten mob violence, made by Earl Hurt, Commander of the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, against NAACP Secretary Walter White when he comes to Dallas in 1938 to speak against lynching before the Interracial Commission.

When the U.S. Supreme Court found Hamilton County, Tennessee sheriffs guilty of aiding a lynching, in the only criminal court case tried before the U.S. Supreme Court, W.L. Cabell with the full support of the local United Confederate Veterans sought to have President Taft pardon them.

I hope to have a rough draft of the history of the Confederate War Memorial published this weekend.

If this statue remains it will be a scarecrow warning people to stay away from Dallas.