The Dallas City Council, which moved quickly to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, suddenly pushed pause on removing future Civil War monuments one week before a $1 billion municipal bond election.
Around 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon in Dallas at Lee Park to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and an unknown soldier. Peaceful protesters stood in the blistering 90-plus degree heat while facing the barren pedestal where Lee’s bronze, 14-foot tall, six-ton equestrian likeness stood from 1936 until Thursday. Dallas officials sent in city work crews to warehouse the statue.
Dallas officials brought in crews late Thursday afternoon to remove the historical statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park.
A late afternoon restraining order temporarily blocked the City of Dallas from removing a bronze statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Wednesday.
In a resolution filed late Monday afternoon, three of the four black members on the Dallas City Council demanded the immediate removal, disposal, and/or relocation of all Confederate monuments located on the municipality’s public land.
It could cost millions of dollars to remove and relocate Confederate monuments and statues standing in Dallas public parks. It remains unclear who will foot the bill for this undertaking, says Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway.
The Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Dallas, Dwaine Caraway, said that the 121-year-old historical Confederate War Memorial will be gone by the end of the year.