Robert E. Lee Plaque Removed From Frank Crowley Court House/ Exchange Club has this plaque in public places across the nation

I was on jury duty earlier this week and I was pleased to see that the Robert E. Lee plaque had been removed from the "Freedom Shrine" in the Frank Crowley Court jury room in Dallas, Texas.

We had criticized this plaque being in the jury room in our essay published in the Dallas Morning News. 

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/08/04/dallas-confederate-memorials-scream-white-supremacy

There had been no reporting of it being removed, but when I got there I could see that it was removed and that there were two holes in the wall left from the screws that had held it in place.

This "Freedom Shrine" is distributed by the Exchange Club which is a national organization.

It is a set of plaques with important documents in American history. There is Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. I am sure some members in the past were whining that the South was being put upon and the Exchange Club stupidly added in Robert E. Lee's letter of acceptance to be the president of Washington College.

These "Freedom Shrines" are all across the nation in public buildings and likely in every state in the nation. Removing the Robert E. Lee plaque from a jury room is an obvious thing to do. It can be asked to be removed as being a thing that biases jurors.

Next time you see a "Freedom Shrine" look at it and see if there is a Robert E. Lee plaque included.

The Exchange Club still included the Robert E. Lee letter in their Freedom Shrine display. It is item No. 19 here.

https://members.nationalexchangeclub.org/sites/default/files/attachements/30-PieceFreedomShrineArrangements.pdf

It is also in their 20 piece collection which you can see here. It is item No. 19

https://members.nationalexchangeclub.org/sites/default/files/attachements/20-PieceFreedomShrineArrangement.pdf

Why is the Exchange Club still including Robert E. Lee in a Freedom Shrine in 2018? They are an out of touch white club. I am sure they have some African American members who I am sure will come to their defense.

This could be a starter project for any effort to de-Confederate your city.  A small victory is encouragement to go after larger projects.

Also, each of these plaques in a government building legitimizes the Confederacy and their removal de-legitimizes the Confederacy and Confederate monuments. So removing these plaques also helps in removing other Confederate items.

Most importantly though is that we need to take the Confederacy out of the criminal justice system.

BEFORE AT THE COURT HOUSE

AFTER

CLOSE UP   You can see the drill holes.

Protest by reactionary groups planned for Dallas.

See this previous post about This Is Texas Freedom Force and their support by the Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans for a protest in San Antonio this coming Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. It will give you a lot of background information.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2017/08/this-is-texas-freedom-force-working.html#.WYndIVGGOiM

On Facebook This Is Texas Freedom Force have a July 28th posting in which they explain that they have two members in Dallas-Fort Worth talking to an unspecified local organization.

They state that they are there:

"... to talk to the local organization about their plan of attack/how they want to handle the Confederate Monument attacks by the Mayor & BLM here in Dallas."

This is the link to their posting.
https://www.facebook.com/1318988724858579/photos/rpp.1318988724858579/1385301474893970/?type=3&theater

Actually the Black Lives Matter movement is totally not involved with this effort to remove Confederate monuments. Or I should say I don't know of any involvement.

I don't know what local organization to which they are referring.

Things are developing fast. Yesterday Michael Phillips was interviewed for KLIF, a local AM radio channel. I have been finding out that the Freedom Shrine at the Frank Crowley  Courts building that has the Robert E. Lee letter is only one of many across the country. The George Allen Court building in Dallas also has this same Freedom Shrine. I did a lot of photo documentation.