Fort Worth Star-Telegram Members of Black Lives Matter held a press conference with Faith and Community Leaders United, NAACP, and Nation of Islam to state their demand and goals for the protest movement on June 4, 2020, at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Worth.Â
The statue of a Texas Ranger at Dallas Love Field was removed Thursday due to a forthcoming bookâs depiction of its racist history.
The statue at the airport was taken down and moved to storage as protests against police brutality continue across the U.S., though the city stopped short of saying the removal is related to the death of George Floyd.
âIn light of a recently published excerpt from a forthcoming book and image of the model for the Texas Ranger sculpture that shows flippancy toward racial insensitivity, Dallas Love Field and the Office of Arts and Culture have removed the statue of the Texas Ranger from its current location,â the city said in a news release.
According to an excerpt from the book âCult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangersâ published by D Magazine, the 12-foot bronze statue in the main lobby of the airport created by San Antonio sculptor Waldine Tauch is modeled after Texas Ranger Sgt. E.J. âJayâ Banks.
Former Gov. Allan Shivers sent the Texas Rangers, with Banks as commanding officer, to Mansfield to prevent black students from integrating at the high school, despite a court order, the excerpt says. A news photo shows Banks casually leaning against a tree in front of white students gathering at the school, where a black person was hanged in effigy.
âThey were just âsalt of the earthâ citizens,â Banks later wrote of the white mob assembled at the school, according to the excerpt. âThey were concerned because they were convinced that someone was trying to interfere with their way of life.â
The new book by Doug J. Swanson will be released June 9.
Across the country, thereâs renewed debate over removing Confederate statues as Black Lives Matter protests reignite focus on racial inequality. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday a statue of Robert E. Lee in Richmond would be removed, the Associated Press reported.
The Texas Ranger sculpture was a gift to the city of Dallas in 1963 âwhen policies requiring the extensive review of public art donations were not in place,â officials said.
âThe apparent insensitivity of one individual is not an indictment of the Texas Rangers as a whole,â officials said in the news release. âHowever, given the issues we face as a city and a nation, the presence of this sculpture in a prominent location at the airport needs to be evaluated.â
