SAN ANTONIO — Since June 2015, a nationwide movement to remove Confederate monuments, flags and other symbols from the public space has transpired and Texas is leading way.
Texas has pulled down 31 Confederate legacy public memorials. Virginia tails the Lone Star State with 14 removed, nine in Florida and Tennessee with eight.
A new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center counted 110 monuments removed in Texas in the last three years.
Nationwide, there are more than 1,700 symbols still standing in public space.
School names have changed too including Robert E. Lee Elementary in Austin and Robert E. Lee High School in the Alamo City.
For more than 100 years, a 40-foot high column of granite stood undisturbed, in the center of Travis Park in downtown San Antonio. A colorful flower bed now sits in its place.
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The issue continues to divide residents.
San Antonio resident Jeffery Jonathan Ellison was walking through Travis Park on his way to work when asked for his thoughts on the removal of Confederate symbols.
"We should not forget about our roots and continue to remember our past,” Ellison said, “No matter how sorted they may be."
Waiting on his bus downtown, 17-year-old Damien Medina disagrees.
"I know back then slavery was alright, and racism, and thinking like that but, it's not alright because change is inevitable,’ he said. “We must change the way we think."
According to The Southern Poverty Law Center, several Confederate-named places, holidays and monuments remain:
- 772 monuments more than 300 of which are in Georgia, Virginia or North Carolina;
- 100 public schools named for Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis or other Confederate icons
- 80 counties and cities named for Confederates;
- 9 observed state holidays in five states
- 10 U.S. military bases