Preservation Board Votes To Remove Confederate Plaque At State Capitol

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas State Preservation Board voted to remove a historically inaccurate confederate plaque at the Capitol.

The "Children of the Confederacy Creed" plaque was originally placed in the Texas Capitol in 1959 and states that the Civil War was not a rebellion and was not fought over slavery.

It reads, in part: "We, therefore, pledge ourselves to preserve pure ideals to study and teach the truths of history (one of the most important of which is that the war between the states was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery)."

"It doesn't even take six seconds, much less over a year to determine that a Confederate plaque should be removed the Capitol. It's shameful this plaque was allowed in our state capitol," said Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa.

Members of the Texas State Preservation Board who voted in favor of its removal included Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, newly elected Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, Citizen Board Member Alethea Swann Bugg, and Texas State Representative Jeff Leach (R-Plano).

Inside the Capitol in Austin, a few steps away from Representative Eric Johnson's office and just outside of the rotunda, the bronze plaque has hung for nearly 60 years.

"This was fake news the day this was generated," said Johnson about the plaque.

Johnson, easily considered the leading voice on the topic, has pushed vehemently for its removal. He first called for the plaque's removal in August 2017, shortly after the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Rep. Johnson tweeted in 2017 that if Governor Greg Abbott brings them back for a second special session, he'd introduce a resolution to have the plaque near the rotunda and "anything like it" taken down.

Johnson's request came as cities across the nation were debating what to do with Confederacy monuments and statues.

As for Friday's decision to remove the plaque, Johnson shared this sentiment: "While I'm glad the State Preservation Board voted to remove the 'Children of the Confederacy Creed' plaque from the Texas Capitol, none of us in state government should be high-fiving each other or patting ourselves on the back today. The plaque should never have been put up by the Legislature in the first place, and it certainly shouldn't have taken sixty years to remove it. And that's on Republicans and Democrats alike, to be perfectly honest."

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• Civil War