Removing Racist Statues

This letter to the editor was published in yesterday's edition of the Austin American-Statesman.

Honorable men

My great-grandfathers were honorable men. All four of them fought for the Confederacy. They fought for what they thought was right. They were defeated in their efforts.

They left home as boys and returned as 25-year-old beaten men. They went back to work and built this state into what it is today — the most desired place on the planet to live.

They were honorable men. Do not dishonor them by the removal or replacement of their statues around the Capitol or the University of Texas.

Marshall E. Kuykendall

bmkuy@austin.rr.com

Driftwood

So Mr. Kuykendall believes that his Confederate ancestors were "honorable" because they "fought for what they thought was right," despite the fact that "what they thought was right" (slavery) was clearly despicable. I rarely see Germans arguing that their Nazi ancestors were honorable for the same reason, although I am quite sure that there were quite a few Nazi soldiers who sympathized with their cause.

The reason why I advocate removing/replacing the statues of Confederate soldiers is because what the Confederate soldiers believed "was right" contradicts with what modern America believes is right. I am adamantly in favor of allowing racists to display as many statues of KKK members in their front yards as they would like, but the statues in question are located on government property and therefore are perceived to reflect the government's beliefs. Our government should promote values such as freedom and equality under the law, not slavery.

The administration at UT Austin has been hesitant to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis, located in the South Mall area, because George Littlefield, who gave a boatload of money to the school after he died, donated that money under the condition that the statue be displayed. In my opinion, the state of Texas, which has given far more money to the school than George Littlefield had, should only continue funding UT under the condition that the statue be removed, as it reflects poorly on the state. I think that a major reason why UT has such difficulties with attracting intelligent students from minority backgrounds is because of our image as intolerant of racial diversity, which is not helped by statues like that of Davis.