Robert E. Lee Statue Vandalized In Dallas Park
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DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - The historic monument faces to the south. It sits like a mountain of pride, a bold-bronze boulder of acknowledgement along Dallas' Turtle Creek Boulevard. It's gargantuan presence displays a towering military man on horseback , accompanied by a young soldier.
In 1936, the City of Dallas christened the sculpture as its ode to its southern secessionist sacrifice. Gen. Robert E Lee's monument, sculpted by artist A. Phimister Proctor, stands at the heart of the city park that also bears the Confederate General's name.
Friday morning, someone decided to add their own description to the sculpture.
"SHAME," emblazoned in large white spray painted letters, covered the granite base of the Gen. Lee monument. Could it be coincidence that the defacing of the sculpture occurred on the same day as the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of South Carolina's state house?
The organization built to manage and promote Lee Park won't say, but officials called the "SHAME" graffiti a criminal act.
One week prior, a Dallas advocacy group protested at Lee Park, calling for the city to "undedicate" its affinity toward public memorials for those loyal to the movement of the Confederacy. The Dallas Chapter of the NAACP has urged Mayor Mike Rawlings to create a task force to examine the elimination and removal of names of Confederate loyalists from schools, municipal buildings, city parks and cemeteries.
Dallas chapter President Arthur Fleming did not endorse the act of defacing the Lee monument along Turtle Creek. "The NAACP is against any act of vandalism of any monuments or structures of any type. We won't condone any of that."
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