House Bill to force Confederate statues on Texas forever

House Bill to force Confederate statues on Texas forever

By Mike Killalea

Here’s the worst bill you never heard of, until this solid reporting by Lone Star Left.

A bill from Representative Stan Gerdes (R-HD17), aka” Confederate Stan,” would make it nearly impossible to remove Confederate monuments and other tributes to white supremacy from public property, even in communities that want them gone. It would require a two-thirds vote from the Texas Legislature, or a countywide election, for any statue older than 25 years to be moved.

“In most rural Texas counties, that means never,” notes LSL.

His bill is HB 3227, “Relating to the removal, relocation, alteration, or construction of certain monuments or memorials located on public property; authorizing a civil penalty”

“Several people who testified in favor of this bill I recognize from rural protests and the County Commissioners’ Court, where they once identified themselves as members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy or the Sons of Confederate Veterans,” reports LSL. “Although they said they were representing “themselves” in this hearing, a quick Google search can confirm most of their affiliations, starting with Shelby Little, who spends every Saturday dressed in Confederate gray, standing on the Williamson County courthouse lawn.”

This bill is about protecting old Confederate lawn ornaments from the indignity of ever being moved. Stan Gerdes’ bill (the one he probably drafted under the watchful eye of a bust of Jefferson Davis) splits monuments into two categories: state property and local property. But in both cases, it does the same thing, puts white supremacy under glass and slaps on a “do not touch” sign.

If a statue is on state-owned land, and it’s been around 25 years or longer, it cannot be removed, relocated, or even “altered for historical accuracy” unless you get a two-thirds vote in both the Texas House and Senate. Good luck with that.

If it’s younger than 25? The only person who can approve changes is whoever runs the agency that originally put it there. So again: you’d better hope the person who installed the Stonewall Jackson memorial in 2004 had a late-in-life moral awakening.

You can add a new statue nearby, one that “complements or contrasts” with the original. So sure, put up a statue of Harriet Tubman next to a Confederate general if you like, but don’t you dare remove the man who fought to keep her enslaved. That would be erasing history (but only the white kind).

https://substack.com/home/post/p-162628314?source=queue