A downtown San Antonio monument to the war dead of the Confederacy is being targeted for removal.
The monument in Travis Park is inscribed “Lest We Forget Our Confederate Dead” and atop the 40 foot tall square granite shaft is a Confederate private – facing south and pointing upward towards heaven.
It was unveiled with great pomp on Saturday April 22 1898. But on this Saturday former San Antonio City Council member Mario Salas said it is time to remove the tribute to the southern rebellion.
"The city, I think, is obligated to remove this thing. This is despicable. I wouldn't want a Nazi flag flying in this. And that is equivalent to a Nazi flag or Nazi statue," he said.
County Commission Tommy Calvert called for the statue’s relocation saying the Confederacy's primary reason for existence was the preservation of slavery. And he said the monument is a shrine to that lost cause.
"When we have monuments like this at the bottom of this it should say "never again." Never again do we want to go back to a situation where people are enslaved," he said.
Calvert also targeted the new Texas history school books which teaches that slavery was not the primary cause of the Civil War.
"I would encourage teachers to go to primary sources Your superintendents and principals would never fault you for going directly to a historical source as opposed to some propaganda that's being created in some text books," he said.
On Tuesday, Bexar County Commissioners Court will discuss the removal of confederate markers at the Courthouse and other county- owned facilities.