Austin, Texas. Wikipedia
Whitewashing history in Austin, Texas
Earlier this year, the Austin City Council in Texas, USA, changed the names of two streets honouring Confederate leaders. Now Austin’s Equity Office has suggested renaming the city in a report about other existing Confederate monuments that was published last week.
Published: July 30, 2018, 8:34 am
Austin
The report also identified several streets linked to the history of the Confederacy and worthy of immediate action.
Stephen F. Austin – the namesake of the state’s capital – has always been considered the “father of Texas”. Austin opposed freeing slaves in the province of Tejas, arguing that they would turn into “vagabonds, a nuisance and a menace”.
For that reason, the city is ready to get rid of its name. The latest report acknowledged that the likelihood of strong opposition would require an election since the name “Austin” would have to be struck from the city charter and replaced.
Numerous historical monuments related to the Confederacy on city property could be targeted for removal, the report noted. Those include a monument for the Confederate States of America located on Congress Avenue.
However, the city would need approval from the Texas Historical Commission as well as the Travis County Historical Commission to move such monuments.
Streets and parks named after William Barton, who was a slave owner, were included in a lower-tier list of “assets for secondary review” in the report.
The cost of such changes include the expense faced by longtime homeowners and business owners who will have to change all their printed material to show a new address.
Before the council renamed Robert E Lee Road to Azie Morton Road and Jeff Davis Avenue to William Holland Avenue, despite a majority opposing the changes, which occurred in April. They accused the city of whitewashing history.
After a 2017 recommendation from the Austin Commission for Women that called for the city to address “gender and racial” inequality in the naming of public symbols, the commission voiced its preference for individuals with a “positive relationship and history with the community”.
The Equity Office’s report concluded, “It is essential to acknowledge that societal values are fluid, and they can be and are different today compared to when our city made decisions to name and/or place these Confederate symbols in our community.
“It is also important to acknowledge that nearly all monuments to the Confederacy and its leaders were erected without a true democratic process. People of color often had no voice and no opportunity to raise concerns about the city’s decision to honor Confederate leaders.”
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