Six months after removing a Robert E. Lee statue in Oak Lawn Park, the City Council will now hear city staff recommendations for the next steps.
City staff was tasked with determining how to implement the recommendations made by the Mayor’s Task Force on Confederate Monuments last year. The task force recommended changing some city streets that are named for confederate leaders, adding a memorial to Allen Brooks, a black man lynched in Dallas in 1910, along with other guidance in addressing city owned art and streets or monuments highlighting confederate leaders.
In a memo to the city council, city staff disagreed on some of the recommendations. Staff is proposing the Confederate War Memorial stay in Downtown Dallas instead of being relocated to a museum. Staff concluded adding signage to explain the context and history at a cost of approximately $25,000 is recommended.
Councilman Philip Kingston says the monument should be moved.
“You can't go to a company like Amazon and say we're the city of the future. You should bring your 50 thousand jobs here, oh and by the way and they can all go by and look at our confederate monument,” said Kingston.
However, there is agreement between the task force and city staff for a name change for Lee Parkway, near Oak Lawn Park.
Though some who live on Lee Parkway feel it's an over-reach by the city.
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Valerie Richardson says changing the name from Lee Park to Oak Lawn Park was appropriate, but doesn’t believe changing the name of Lee Parkway is necessary.
“I think we have to rethink how far we really want to go relative to naming streets in our community,” said Richardson.
Richardson questioned why the city is focused on her street, a short city block, tucked along the edge of Oak Lawn Park.
“I think if they really want to be focused on this issue, they should take all street names in consideration.”
Thurston Tyler says the discussion about street names and monuments has become a distraction from what he describes as the real racial issues in the city.
“It's still not changing young black males being shot in the street. It's still not changing certain communities thinking all law enforcement is bad,” said Tyler. “What is it really changing?”
Tyler says removing the Robert E. Lee statue opened a dialogue. He’d like to see that talk now build an understanding in the community.
