First Domino falls, San Antonio takes down Confederate monument in Travis Park overnight

The San Antonio city council voted to have the statue removed. The vote was 10 to 1.

http://www.kens5.com/news/local/monument-glorifies-a-lost-cause-council-votes-to-relocate-confederate-statue/469702993

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/08/31/san-antonio-city-council-votes-to-remove-confederate-statue-from-travis-park

The city wasted no time to get the monument removed. The removal was within hours of the vote.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-removing-Confederate-statue-in-Travis-12165970.php

This is a video footage.

https://www.ksat.com/live/watch-live-confederate-statue-removal-from-travis-park

The city was sued during the debate to prevent the removal of the monument.  Claim was that the city would be violating the free speech rights of the Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans and that the city of San Antonio didn't have title to the property. Their attorney was Kirk Lyons.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/City-sued-as-debate-over-Confederate-statue-12163921.php

Now the issue about the title might have some merit. I am sure that the city of San Antonio is looking into it. For something really old records can be lost or the means of possession might have been forgotten. Perhaps the land is on permanent loan or something. I am not saying this is the case, but it isn't unreasonable. I sure the city is doing research now.

The Federal judge refused to issue a stay on the removal. See link below.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Judge-denies-motion-to-block-city-from-removing-12165180.php?cmpid=artem

So down it went.

The Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) has a "WARFRONT" posting on their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/SCVTexas/posts/1447242635323451

Their web page has a lot of name calling. They must realize that their usual tactic of threats of retaliation at the next election is of little worth. They made a point of having two out of three speakers at their rally for the monument be African American. So now they realize the H.K. Edgerton strategy doesn't really work. The support that they get from right wing publications is of no value, because if Confederate monuments were widely identified with the politics of Breitbart they would likely go down faster.

This is Texas Freedom Force, ("This is" is part of their name), says they are still involved but they are tied up with the hurricane but say they are still involved with the fight to keep Confederate monuments. (See link below.) They say they are going to have a recall effort. I don't think the recall effort is going to have much effect. Even if they remove one or two city council people, and I doubt they will, it still won't get the monument back up. It might highlight how lacking in influence they are.

It strikes me that they are somewhat delusional as to their importance. I don't think they will ever quite realize that they are not representative of mainstream opinion in Texas.

However, I do agree with the speaker that the removal in San Antonio will get other militia groups fired up for the fight. It could be that they really didn't realize how much opinion has turned against Confederate monuments.

https://www.facebook.com/This-Is-Texas-Freedom-Force-1318988724858579/


IMPLICATIONS FOR TEXAS

If you live in Texas you know that a lot of Texans live in a Texas-centric world.

So this is a really important precedent. Also, the fact that it was voted down by 10 to 1.

So in about 12 to 15 months people will wonder why their city hasn't gotten rid of its Confederate monument if it hasn't already done so. Given that the vote by the San Antonio city council was 10 to 1, people will have an expectation that the removal of a Confederate monument should be quick and relatively straight forward. If their city hasn't removed its Confederate monument or in the progress of doing so people in that city will be wondering what is wrong with its city leadership and coming to a realization what type of leadership it is.Others elsewhere in Texas will begin to draw conclusions about what type of city it is. There will be discontent and severe criticism of cities which don't remove Confederate monuments.

So for the cities that are hold outs, there will be  slow process of one monument here, one monument there being removed, showing that a sustained campaign will remove the monuments and encourage the efforts in hold-out cities to continue. It will make hold -out cities seem more aberrant and subject to ridicule.

Now the next key thing is for another monument to fall since that would be the start of a trend. Some officials might hope that San Antonio is just a fluke, but if more cities start removing Confederate monuments, city officials that would hope to avoid the issue, will realize that they just need to get it behind them.

Dallas Mayor Rawlings must be wondering if his whole task force thing is a mistake and city council members are probably realizing that a vote for quick removal is probably a better political strategy. Who wants to be on record as voting for a delaying strategy when city council decides that it is simply time for the monuments to go?

As monuments go down in Texas it will apply pressure for monuments to go down elsewhere. If conservative Texas takes down monuments people will wonder what is wrong with their city if they don't take down Confederate monuments.

I think also that the movement to remove Confederate monuments will continue. Progress might stall in other cities, maybe some national effort will slow it down, but then one city will get a Confederate monument removed and efforts in other cities will be encouraged and pressure will increase on the remaining cities. The issue might quiet down for a week or two, but then in some city the contest will bring to the fore the issue for the nation.

I think we are seeing the neo-Confederacy go up the spout.