AUSTIN, Texas—On June 23, another wave of vandalism hit the University of Texas. The vandals defaced three statues of Confederate leaders.
Located on the South Mall part of campus, the statues of Texas Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Commander Albert Sidney Johnston were covered in red paint with the iconic phrase, “Black Lives Matter.”
On the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the graffiti included a second message: “Bump All The Chumps.”
The incident marks the third time the statue of Davis has been vandalized this year. The damaging of the property came the Tuesday after South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley, called for the removal of the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds in Columbia.
Earlier on Tuesday, UT President Greg Fenves released a statement regarding the Jefferson Davis statue:
Tomorrow, I plan to announce a committee of students, faculty members and alumni that will discuss the future of the Jefferson Davis statue and provide a range of options for me to review.
I have asked Dr. Gregory Vincent, vice president for the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, to chair the committee. I deeply understand the concerns of our students who have raised this issue. I have been working closely with them to consider the range of options that recognize the impact this statue has on our students and the need for us to understand and learn from our history.
Recently, part of the UT student body mounted a campaign to remove the Davis statue, as reported by Breitbart Texas on Monday.
Adam Hammons with KEYE TV tweeted the following pictures of Johnston and Davis:
The Austin American-Statesman’s Deborah Cannon published additional pictures of the scene and clean up attempts here.
Follow Cassi Pollock on Twitter: @cassi_pollock
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