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To: Mayor Mike Rawlings

Remove Robert E. Lee Statue and name from Oak Lawn Park, and Dallas Schools

Remove Confederate Statue of Robert E. Lee and his name from Oak Lawn Park, and D.I.S.D. schools, and replace the statue with a public sculpture reflective of Dallas 21st century spirit of racial equity.

Why is this important?

Return Dallas' Public art to the citizens of Dallas reflective of the diversity of Texas Culture and Dallas Contemporary Culture. The statue, the park name (Lee Park), and the naming of a children's school, Robert E. Lee Elementary, insults the dignity and intelligence of 21st century Dallasites. The statue is in bad taste, given that Lee was not Texan, and furthermore a traitor to the United States of America. The statue is representative of white supremacy, and represents a heritage of hatred and the belief that even in defeat, Lee and the Confederacy held noble and just beliefs. The time has come to take Lee and all Confederate "heroes" off their pedestals.
Dallas, TX, United States

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Links

Updates

2015-07-22 13:26:01 -0700

San Antonio, Texas, moves into the 21st Century:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Bexar-County-Commissioners-order-removal-of-6397371.php

2015-07-22 13:24:01 -0700

Reasons Texas gave for secession:
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.

2015-07-22 13:23:07 -0700

Reasons Texas gave for secession:

That in this free government *all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights* [emphasis in the original]; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.

2015-07-04 11:32:51 -0700

100 signatures reached

2015-07-02 22:29:21 -0700

In its justification of secession, Texas sums up its view of a union built upon slavery: "We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable."

2015-06-27 23:32:38 -0700

In 1988, five members of a neo-Nazi group called the Confederate Hammerskins patrolled the park, saying it was only for white people because it was named for the Confederate general. Two of the members beat a black man with a baseball bat.

2015-06-26 13:10:13 -0700

I spent a lot of time in this park as a teen before I realized that while blacks and mexicans were being lynched, this statue was being installed...

2015-06-25 20:38:14 -0700

50 signatures reached

2015-06-24 20:02:29 -0700

Good People, 25 years ago I realized this change has got to be! Thank you for signing our petition, and please be sure to share it.

http://iam.colorofchange.org/petitions/remove-robert-e-lee-statue-and-name-from-oak-lawn-park-and-dallas-schools

2015-06-24 19:56:42 -0700

25 signatures reached

2015-06-24 12:07:07 -0700

10 signatures reached