DENTON (WBAP/KLIF News) – A committee tasked with deciding the fate of a Confederate statue that sits in front of the Denton County Courthouse has decided it should stay.
The committed voted 12 – 3 Thursday afternoon in favor of keeping it but with added language denouncing slavery as well as additional educational tools about racial progress.
Zenobia Hutton, a member of the Denton Confederate Monument Advisory Committee, voted to keep it because she believes it should be a learning tool.
“We can’t hide our past. We can only learn from it, teach our young children about it and what it means and not place so much emphasis on it that this is a statue of racism” she said.
Committee member Willie Hudspeth was one of the three who wanted it removed.
“How in the world are you going to explain to me that that is not racist? To leave it there and say it’s okay,” he said.
Denton resident Jim Sydnor said he thinks the Confederate monuments should be in a museum and not on city streets.
“If I was African American or other minorities that were damaged by the Confederacy it would be difficult and uncomfortable to walk by that everyday,” he said.
The statue is of an armed Confederate soldier standing on an arch with the inscription “Our Confederate Soldiers” beneath it.
It was dedicated to Denton County in 1918.
The Denton County Commissioner’s Court will make the final decision about the statue during a meeting next week.
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