Landscape Reparations. Deracializing the landscape

One of the problems I think with getting rid of Confederate monuments, Confederate named streets is that they are looked at in isolation, instead of considering the entire landscape and realizing it is a white landscape and realizing that there needs to be Landscape Reparations. By the way there is this Facebook page to join if you want to deracialize the landscape.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/661267871019209/

This is my first postcast on the topic.It is the first Version. I am just starting to think through the issue of Landscape Reparations and I am putting out some ideas, but I also ask the listener to share their ideas. (This doesn't mean I am interested in the rantings of white nationalists.) I think the biggest barrier is people thinking that nothing can be done.



This is the companion piece. I will have more podcasts on what can be done regarding the white landscape.

DePaul Univ. Jan. 2018 Map of the Month is Dallas Confederate Streets/ New Protest Walk Planned.

DePaul Univ. has put online the Jan. 2018 Map of the Month of Dallas Confederate Streets.

http://via.library.depaul.edu/mom/47/

You can also get a 2-sided one page map at:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/dallas-streets.html

The backside refers to all the Confederate streets in Dallas with the web links for the informational pages for each street.

Another protest walk is planned.  Feb. 3, 2018 2pm up Gaston and down Junius Street.

https://www.facebook.com/events/420415618376646/

The the following map has Throckmorton Street added.

Map of Confederate and KKK streets in Dallas. UPDATE:

This is the map of Confederate and KKK streets in Dallas. Junius St. is both Reconstruction KKK and Confederate. R.L. Thornton is 20th century KKK. The others are Confederates, but they might have been KKK, we just don't have documentation.

UPDATE: Map is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/dallas-streets.html

It is like Dallas has a Confederate infection.

Sat. Jan 6, 2pm 2400 Gaston Ave. we start the walk up Gaston Ave. and then back down on Junius St. I will have a sign and be taking video.

This is the Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/events/303683380120314/

We have information on the web pages for the two streets.
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/gaston-avenue.html
http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/junius-street.html

Click to see whole image.

UPDATE: Route reversed. Protest Walk Jan. 6 on Gaston Ave. and Junius Street in Dallas.

UPDATE: The route will be reversed starting at 2400 Gaston Ave.

This is the next event, Jan. 6, 2018, 2pm starting at 7340 Gaston Ave. Walks will be done once a month in Dallas on the streets.

This is the "No Confederate Streets" page.

https://www.facebook.com/events/303683380120314/

The walk will be down Gaston Ave. until the end, then switch over and walk back up north east on Junius Street. I will be taking video of the entire walk. I am thinking of a Ricoh V camera.

UPDATE: The walk will be UP Gaston Avenue then down Junius Street.

I will be writing people on the street before hand to express support. I will be sending them a bibliography and a paper on why the street names need to be changed.

This is the link for Gaston Ave.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/gaston-avenue.html

This is the link for Junius Street.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/junius-street.html

Junius W. Peak besides being a Confederate soldier was a Ku Klux Klan member during Reconstruction in Dallas. Neo-Confederates celebrated the KKK in Reconstruction as the heroic effort of the ex-Confederate solider.

Both web pages have historical resources and they have a two-page bibliography on slavery and violence against African Americans in American history.

I will be including with my letter the bibliography and a position paper on why changing Confederate named streets is important.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/why-changing-the-name-of-confederate-streets-is-important.html

For both streets I am mapping historical items to individual addresses.

For Junius Street is it violence against African Americans.

For Gaston Ave. it is Moses Roper's slave narrative of his escapes. His sufferings along the way constitute a sort of stations of the cross.

You can view the tables of the mappings at the street web pages.

I will be filling in the tables and updating them over the next few months. The tables themselves also have resources that a person could look up on the web or read.

Once I get video of my walk, I will be producing a video in which the issues of neo-Confederates, Reconstruction KKK, and other topics can be explained in the video of the walk.

I am doing this as a project of remembering.

Along with the bibliography and position paper there will be a letter which I have yet to write. I will post it in this blog posting when it is finished.

I am thinking of asking people along the way to express their support either by walking with me or having at their house or on their lawn a symbol of support. I am thinking of maybe a poster of E.G. Porter, a Dallas African American who was attacked for trying to be a juror.

Or some symbol to represent support.

I am also studying street name changes in South Africa where they are getting rid of apartheid street names. Contacting some scholars, getting some papers, reading articles.

Protest at Lee Parkway, Dallas, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 4th 2-5pm across from the Mayfair

We have a protest planned at Lee Parkway, Dallas, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 4th 2-5pm.

We will be across from the Mayfair condominiums.

This is the launch of our grass roots campaign to de-Confederate Dallas.

We have made up signs and have people signed up to go.

I have had a TV reporter interview me about our planned protest so I think there will be broadcast coverage.

Six residents of the Mayfair complained about Lee Parkway, named after Robert E. Lee being changed because it was too much of a bother, including the president of the Home Owners Association.

This is the link to the video at You Tube of the six Mayfair residents complaining before the Mayor of Dallas and Dallas city council when they were receiving public input. The video was originally three segments since the Mayfair residents didn't do their whining one after the other.

The link to the video is:

https://youtu.be/-HUvN7vB5ec

Click on the video to see the entire video. SET VOLUME TO MAXIMUM.



CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THE ENTIRE IMAGE.

Notice the rhinestones for the "i"s.

Letter about the history of neo-Confederacy sent to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings

Since the Dallas Task Force on Confederate monuments failed to get any information on the history of Dallas neo-Confederacy, the public hasn't been educated fully as to why these monuments need to go down. So the number of Confederate named streets was a very short list and none or maybe just one or two will be changed. The Confederate monument in Pioneer Park might end up staying. It doesn't look like anything will be done for Fair Park. The Commission on Cultural Affairs didn't vote on the Task Force's recommendations.

So I wrote this certified letter to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings with copies sent to all 14 city council members. 

Some of the supporting documentation I will put after the letter and some will be inserted into the letter. Further I may have explanatory notes which will be in square brackets [ ].

CLICK ON IMAGES SO YOU CAN SEE THE ENTIRE IMAGE.

Again, I had a brain fade and the plantation house in Oak Lawn park is Arlington Hall. Stratford Hall is the ancestral mansion of the Lee family. 

October 15, 2017

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

                                                                                    

                                                                                    edwardsebesta@gmail.com

Mayor Mike Rawlings

City of Dallas

Mayor and City Council City of Dallas

1500 Marilla St.

Dallas, TX 75201

Dear Hon. Rawlings:

The Task Force on Confederate monuments did not research or investigate or report on the history of neo-Confederacy in Dallas and Texas.

This has had the unfortunate result in that the public hasn’t been educated and doesn’t know the motivations of the people who erected these statues and what was the ideology behind them. There were presentations about the fact that Dallas was a white supremacist society during the period in which they were put up, but the historical record of the beliefs of these organizations and supporters of the monuments has not been examined.

This results in some not really taking seriously the reason to remove these Confederate monuments. The need to eliminate Confederate street names is not taken that seriously and rationalizations are given to only change some. As of 10/15/2017 it is unclear what will be done with Fair Park. The one-third replica Lee plantation house, Stratford, isn’t being discussed, the remaining memorials that seek to honor Confederates aren’t addressed.

So I think it would be useful that you and city council get a sampler, a small sampler of what neo-Confederacy stood for in Dallas.

1.       The United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1934 and 1935 campaigned against a play Jute that was planned to be performed by the Oak Cliff Little Theater. The UDC opposed it since it was planned to use an interracial cast to perform it. The performance of the play was prevented and the Oak Cliff Little Theater closed down. The Texas Division UDC President in the UDC convention minutes reported it as a triumph in the defense of the South.  The Dallas Morning News reported on this multiple times: “Interracial Body Meets Opposition of Confederates,” Dec. 4, 1934, page2; “Quince to Revive ‘Jute’ on June 4 at Cliff Theater, April 27, 1935, page 10; “Title Role of ‘Jute’ Still Remains Uncast,” May 13, 1935, page 6; “Cast for ‘Jute’ Already Complete,” May 17, 1935, Page 14; “Confederate Daughters Oppose Playing Whites and Negroes in Drama,” May 18, 1935, page 6; “Another Confederacy Chapter Opposes Two Races in Theatricals,” May 23, 1935, page 6; “Guarantee No ‘Social Upheaval,’ Quince Asks Protests to Cease on Mixed Cast for Play ‘Jute,’” May 24, 1935, page 2; “Quince Drops ‘Jute’ In Face of Protests,” May 27, 1935, page 7; “Oak Cliff Merges Membership with Dallas Little Theater’s,” May 28, 1935, page 14.

2.      Walter White of the NAACP came to speak at a YWCA against lynching in 1937. [Correction, 1938] The campaign against his speaking engagement was so ferocious that it was moved to a different Y for safety, a police guard had to be assigned, and White had to fly in at 3 pm and fly out at 6 pm for his own safety. The campaign was led by Walter E. Hurt, Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

3.      An extract for John H. Reagan, from the Dallas Morning News, April 28, 1897, page 1 in which Reagan explains that the restoration of white supremacy after the Civil War was more meritorious than any of the Civil War battles that the Confederates fought.

4.      A report on a speech made by the Historian General of the Texas Division of the United Confederate Veterans at UCV meeting in Fort Worth asking that all African Americans be sent back to Africa and giving forth on his biblical theories of racial inequality. It is from the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 24, No. 12 pp. 529, Dec. 1916.

5.      Selections from the John B. Hood Journal of the John B. Hood SCV camp in Dallas in 1965. The raw rancid racism really shows what Confederate “heritage” is all about.

I could supply a lot more. I want you and the city council to understand the motivations behind these monuments and other Confederate items of the built environment of Dallas and not be inclined to be lax in addressing the issue involved instead of strenuously de-Confederating Dallas.

                                                                                    Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

This is from the Texas Division UDC annual convention minutes. I extracted into a page the Texas Division President's comments from the year book. It succinctly summarizes the attitude of the UDC.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE ENTIRE IMAGE.

The article was mailed. You can get this article from the Dallas Public Library. It is from the Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1938, pages 1, 12. I sent the entire article with the bibliographic note. The headline was, Protest Made Agasint Negro Speech Plans: Earl E. Hurt Says White People Should Guard Racial Purity."

Walter White, historically famous leader of the NAACP was scheduled to speak in Dallas before the Dallas Interracial Commission against lynching. A campaign was led against his speaking. This really shows what Confederate "heritage" in Dallas was about. 

The intensity of the protest was such that the speaker had to be guarded by police and the venue moved. This is from the article, "Police Guard Appearance of Negro Speaker: Antilynch Work To Save Black Bodies, White Men's Souls," Dallas Morning News, April 30, 1938. 

Walter White had to be flown in at 3pm and flown out at 6pm by airplane for his safety. 

This is the raw racism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans at that time. Earl Hurt said that he speaks for the organization and other organizations. .

This is from John H. Reagan, Confederate veteran and former member of the Confederate cabinet at the dedication of the Confederate monument which later was moved to Pioneer Park.

Reagan finds restoration of white supremacy glorious – Ed Sebesta 10/10/2017

In this section of a speech given by John H. Reagan, former member of Jefferson Davis’s cabinet, given at the dedication of the Confederate monument in Dallas in 1897, we see that Reagan regards as more glorious than the battles of the Civil War the restoration of white supremacy after the Civil War. Note his racism in reference to “a servile race” which makes “reconstruction worse and more humiliating than war.”

From “Men Who Wore Gray,” Dallas Morning News, April 29, 1897, page 1, Newsbank. (The image of the original text is on the following page.)

“… The strife of the war is over, peace has been restored. It is true that in this restoration we had to pass through a period of reconstruction worse and more humiliating than war ---“

(Here the speaker was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Hayes and family, who were enthusiastically received.)

“But we have the fruits of peace, and it is one of the grandest things connected with the memory of that struggle and of what followed. Our country’s resources were exhausted, our property sacrificed, the bravest and best of our men slain upon the battle fields, denied the privileges of self-government, subjected to military power, the attempt made to subject us to the control of a servile race. With all of this, the highest compliment that could be paid our people seems to me, better than all the victories of battle, was that under such circumstances we were able to preserve the organization of society, to re-establish organized government, to restore the industries of the country and to establish constitutional laws which protect and vindicate the rights of a free people.” (Applause.) [Bold face added.]

The restoration of white supremacy, the overthrow of Reconstruction, the maraudings and terror of the Ku Klux Klan, Red Shirts, White League and the Knights of the White Camillia and just general violent white terrorism is according to John H. Reagan is “the highest compliment” that is “better than all the victories of battle” in the Civil War.

It was generally understood in the early 20^th century by Confederate and neo-Confederate groups, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that the Ku Klux Klan of the Reconstruction period, as well as other white terrorist groups was the effort of the ex-Confederate soldier.

The Confederate Monument at Pioneer Park is a monument to white supremacy. It needs to go. 

This is the image of the extract referenced above.

This is a speech asking that all African Americans be sent back to Africa. Also, it says that Indians are the result of hybridization with animals. It is from the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 24, No. 12, pp. 569. The lecture is by the Historian General of the Texas Division of the United Confederate Veterans. 

Selections from the John B. Hood Journal of 1965 of the John B. Hood Sons of Confederate Veterans camp.

This is the review of the material. The photos follow.

 JOHN B. HOOD CAMP SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS (SCV) JOHN B. HOOD JOURNAL

Compiled by Edward H. Sebesta 10/18/2017

The John B. Hood Journal was the publication of the John B. Hood Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the Dallas Public Library (DPL) has a bound copy of four issues from 1965. They show the blistering racism of the SCV and which is representative of the mentality of neo-Confederates then and now.  This is what so called Confederate “heritage” is really about.

Notes: The pages in the bound volume are unpaginated. The page numbers in this document do not correspond to any pages in the document. They are just for internal reference in this document only.

NOTABLE ITEMS:

This directory is to point out some of the more notable pages using the page numbers of this document. Additionally red arrows are added to point out these notable items. This is a short selection of some of the anti-civil rights items in the bound volume.

1.       Page 5: “White only” stickers offered for sale by the Journal. “Think of the possibilities. On your personal bathrooms, etc., anywhere they are still legal.”  Enlarged view on page 26.

2.      Page 9: Praise and support for right wing radio personality Richard Cotton attacks on the civil rights movement. Page 34 Enlarged view.

3.      Page 11:

3.1.   White supremacist quote of Thomas Dixon from “The Leopard Spots,” one of his novels.

3.2.  Quote of Abraham Lincoln supporting white supremacy.

3.3.  Two condemnations of the Supreme Court decision, one Florida Legislature, one Georgia Legislature.

4.      Page 12: “The Negro 23^rd Psalm.” What is interesting is that neo-Confederates in the 1950s and 60s will have these long discussions of the Constitution and then next to it these rabid rants which give away the whole game. They are so racist that this doesn’t even occur to them.  Page 45. Enlarged.

5.      Page 14: Various racist statements.

5.1.   Robert Toombs explains that Robert E. Lee demonstrates white superiority.

5.2.  Condemnation of “Sammy Davis” who is called “Negro agitator.”

5.3.  Short item asserting that God supports segregation.

6.      Page 15:  Essay explaining that there is no place in the SCV for someone who supports civil rights.  Specific complaint about President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s support for the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.

7.      Page 16: Various racist statements.

Letter to Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings about Street names/ The costing of African American lives or how much do they matter.

The major themes here are:

1. Rationalizations made to keep Confederate named streets that some were significant and some weren't.

2. The poor research done concerning some of these street names. For example, Junius Peak, for whom Junius Street was named after was a Klansman after the Civil War.

3. The very low value placed on African Americans lives when we discuss cost. In this case the value given to African American humanity and dignity is less than $10. We should not be surprised that when police officers wrongly shoot African Americans they get off in court.

This letter was sent by certified mail and copies with the documentation was sent to all 14 members of Dallas city council.  CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE ENTIRE IMAGE.

In the letter that follows I insert some links instead of providing some of the materials at the end. I place notes and links that weren't in the original letter in square brackets [ ].

October 15, 2017

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

                                                                                    

                                                                                    edwardsebesta@gmail.com

Mayor Mike Rawlings

City of Dallas

Mayor and City Council City of Dallas

1500 Marilla St.

Dallas, TX 75201

Dear Hon. Rawlings:

There has been put forth arguments not to change all the streets named after Confederates with one rationalization or another.

I would like to address four of these rationalizations and discuss the implications would be for the values of the City of Dallas. These rationalizations are:

1.       The cost of the name change is too much and it is too much bother.

2.      The Confederate individual for whom the street was named after wasn’t an officer or major figure in the Confederacy so it isn’t necessary to change the name.

3.      It is generally not known that the street is named after a Confederate so it can be allowed.

4.      The individual for whom the street was named did some meritorious activity after the Civil War.

In regards to the argument #1 above relating to cost.

I would like to raise the question if there was somehow a Himmler highway in Dallas and we discovered it would we allow it to continue? I think we would change the name regardless of the cost, regardless of the length.  A street, avenue, boulevard, highway or road or any path or trail or way named after a Nazi, however obscure, would be intolerable.

Yet in discussing eliminating Confederate street names, names which fundamentally denigrate the value of African American life, there is the discussion of cost and bother. Confederate street names for some appear to have a threshold of cost and bother in which beyond that threshold they argue to retain Confederate names.  This allows a calculation to see what value some people put on Black lives, how much Black lives matter in terms of dollars and cents to them.

In “APPENDIX A” you will see a calculation based on the costs for the name changes supplied by Dallas city staff and my cross-check of the calculations based on those figures.

These are the original figures given to change the names of Lee Parkway, Lemmon Avenue, Gaston Avenue, and Beauregard Drive.  

I put in the figures supplied by city staff and calculated what the cost was and then compared the cost given by the Excel sheet to the totals given by Dallas city staff. There are discrepancies for each city. However, I am going to go with the Dallas city staff figures.

The total costs for all four streets is $416,660.07 and in the 2010 U.S. Census figures there was reported that there were 298,993 African Americans living in the city of Dallas, Texas. Dividing the total cost by the population of African Americans living in the city of Dallas in 2010 you get $1.39 per African American resident of Dallas.  

Also, these street names send a toxic message to Dallas residents in general that being violently active for white supremacy is not really that terrible such that the name needs to be changed.

These aren’t all the costs with a street name change, there are business cards to be changed and probably some other paper work and just taking a guestimate of $1,000,000 for these other costs you have a cost of $9.48 per African American resident of Dallas.

I don’t think that is a lot. The fact that some people think this is a lot gives us an idea how much Black lives matter to them and why there are jurors who are unwilling to convict police officers when they wrongfully cause the death or injury of an African American.

The final recommendation of the Task Force, dated 9/29/2017 recommends that the street names Stonewall Street, Beauregard Avenue, Lee Parkway, Gano Street, and Cabell Drive be changed.  Gano Street and Cabell Drive are much shorter than either Gaston Avenue or Lemmon Avenue. It seems that $1.39 per African American resident of Dallas is too much for the Task Force and many Dallas residents.

In regards to the argument #2 above relating the confederate being significant

The rational for Lee Parkway, Gano Street and Cabell is to quote the report, “… streets named after a Confederate leader and/or general, who made a significant contribution to the Confederacy, specifically Gano, Lee and Cabell, be changed.”

I would like to suggest that if someone enlisted in the Confederate army and shoot at American troops their contribution to the Confederacy was significant.

As you probably already know W.L. Cabell being a war criminal. I enclose the documentation. [You can read it here. https://books.google.com/books?id=nvmc_YXsSx4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=ruled+by+race+arkansas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiynb2o-Y7XAhWDeSYKHTjwCHYQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=ruled%20by%20race%20arkansas&f=false. Just search for Cabell's name.] 

This raises historical questions about street names. There were massacres of African American troops during the Civil War by Confederate troops. Was there any review of these Confederate soldiers possible involvement in massacres? Doesn’t appear to me that there was.

The other question is the involvement of ex-Confederates in the overthrow of Reconstruction and the establishment of white supremacist states in so-called “Redemption.” It was commonly understood in the early 20^th century by neo-Confederates that ex-Confederate soldiers made up the Ku Klux Klan.

S.E.F. Rose in her book “The Ku Klux Klan or Invisible Empire,” rhapsodizes about the Ku Klux Klan being the heroic effort of the ex-Confederate soldier and her book is endorsed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). On the strength of her pro-Klan writing she was elected Historian General of the UDC. She died before the end of her term of office and was succeeded by Grace Meredith Newbill who also praised the Klan and in Pulaski, Tennessee led an effort there to name streets, Ku-Klux Place, Ku-Klux Avenue, and “Cyclops Hill.” I enclose some parts of Rose’s book.

[I am putting this at the end.]

UDC praise was so strong for the Ku Klux Klan that when the North Carolina Division of the UDC donated a KKK flag to the Museum of the Confederacy they had a post card of the flag printed. I enclose a page with both sides of the postcard. Visually it tells what Confederate “heritage” is really all about. Incidentally, the building on the stamp is Lee’s plantation, the building at Oak Lawn Park is a one-third replica of this building.

[The following was the two sides of the North Carolina UDC postcard.]

Even before Rose and Newbill’s efforts it was generally understood that the ex-Confederates were the Ku Klux Klan. In this page 7, June 8, 1908 Dallas Morning News article, “R.E. Lee Camp Meeting: Two Veterans Enliven Occasion with Their Ku Klux Experiences.” The article reports:

“Two statements by aged Confederate soldiers, that they were members of the famous Ku-Klux Klan of reconstruction days, praise for this band of ‘home-protectors” was the principle feature of the regular meeting …”

I enclose a copy of the article. The headline was "R.E. Lee Camp Meeting: Two Veterans Enliven Occasion with Their Ku Klux Experiences." 

It should not be surprising that the early 20^th century Klan launched its Texas organizing at a Texas Division United Confederate Veteran reunion in Houston, Texas in 1920. [Page 1-2, “Crusade for Conformity: The Ku Klux Klan in Texas, 1920-1930,” by Charles C. Alexander, Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, Publication Series, Vol. 6 No. 1, August 1962.] The modern KKK would be the re-launch of an ex-Confederate organization and the continuation of really is the true Confederate “heritage.”

Being that the Ku Klux Klan was a secret violent terrorist society we might not be able to specifically name a particular ex-Confederate soldier as being a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but it can be assumed that it was very likely that an ex-Confederate who was able to participate in the Ku Klux Klan was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Then again, it will be interesting to see what comes up with an intensive research of Gaston, Lemmon and the others. For example, in checking the Texas State Historical Association online handbook we see that Junius Peak was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpe03).  The report (Street Naming and Change Process, Sept. 15, 2017, by Neva Dean, Sustainable Development and Construction Assistant Director.) by city staff lists only that he was a real estate developer, deputy sheriff, Captain in Texas Rangers, and Superintendent of White Rock Lack. Did the city staff not know of the Texas State Historical Association handbook or did they just didn’t list the Ku Klux Klan membership?

Regardless whether it can be found that these individuals were members of the Klan or involved with war time atrocities, we can be assured that they mentioned their Confederate service was mentioned with pride after the fall of Reconstruction and if they had political careers their Confederate service was referenced. Further their careers were in a white supremacist state where they were privileged, in a multiracial democracy would they have had these careers?

In regards to the argument #3 above that the street is not generally known to be confederate

Is ignorance of local history really going to be an argument to retain a name? However, I would say that many now know that these streets are named after Confederates and some rationalization was adopted to keep them.

Streets are named after individuals so that they are remembered and the fact that some street name has failed to do that, doesn’t make it more acceptable.

I think that we would rename a street named after a Nazi even if was only discovered in the reading of a footnote in an obscure journal buried in some archive.

In regards to the argument #4 above that the street was named after an individual who after the civil war did some meritorious activity.

W.L. Cabell was elected mayor of Dallas because the multi-racial democracy of Reconstruction was overthrown. Otherwise a war criminal wouldn’t be elected mayor of Dallas.

These ex-Confederates were often elected because they were ex-Confederates. Had Reconstruction not been overthrown by violence and terror these ex-Confederates would have spent their days after the Civil War apologizing for their actions and not celebrating them.

How many of their accomplishments might have been done by African Americans excluded from participating in civil life?

None of these individuals regretted their fighting for the Confederacy and that is how they should be judge.

I ask that all the streets named after Confederate soldiers be renamed. It might have to be spread out over time, but it needs to be done, and excuses to retain these names needs to be rejected.

To retain the names means the city of Dallas really isn’t really all that concerned that they fought for white supremacy and slavery and the city of Dallas isn’t really that concerned about the suffering of the slaves.

                                                                                    Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

CC:

Office	Name	Address	Address
Mayor Pro Tem	Dwaine Caraway	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem	Adam Medrano	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 1 Council Member	Scott Griggs	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 3 Council Member	Casey Thomas II	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 5 Council Member	Rickey D. Callahan	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 6 Council Member	Omar Narvaez	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 7 Council Member	Kevin Felder	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 8 Council Member	Tennell Atkins	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 9 Council Member	Mark Clayton	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 10 Council Member	B. Adam McGough	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 11 Council Member	Lee Kleinman	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 12 Council Member	Sandy Greyson	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 13 Council Member	Jennifer Staubach Gates	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall
District 14 Council Member	Philip T. Kingston	Mayor and City Council	Dallas City Hall

APPENDIX A:

Calculations for name changes for first proposed set of street name changes with figures supplied by the Dallas city staff.

No.	Street	Total Cost	Notes
1	Lemmon Avenue	$364,256.35
2	Gaston Avenue	$49,919.36
3	Lee Parkway	$1,430.94
4	Beauregard Drive	$1,053.42
	Total	$416,660.07
	Total	City of Dallas 2010 Census African American population	Cost per African American
	$416,660.07	298,993	$1.39

[I am deleting out the calculation worksheets for the individual streets since they are not posting well.]

These are the selected sections of S.E.F. Rose's book about the Ku Klux Klan. 

This book in three sections states that the Ku Klux Klan is the great accomplishment of Confederate soldiers after the Civil War.

As you can see from the endorsements the neo-Confederate organizations also believed that the Ku Klux Klan was the great accomplishment of the Confederate soldier.