TEXAS CONFEDERATE MEMORIALS UNDER REVIEW - A top Texas Republican wants the accuracy of memorials around the state Capitol reviewed amid calls to remove Confederate monuments. A spokesman for Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Thursday that the powerful GOP leader will work with a Dallas lawmaker who this week singled out one Confederate plaque as "indefensible on historical grounds." The nearly 60-year-old plaque rejects that slavery was the "underlying cause" of the Civil War. It is one of nearly a dozen Confederate monuments and markers around the Texas Capitol. And in a related story – the city of Houston’s Mayor is reacting to renewed demand to remove Confederate monuments on public property. Mayor Sylvester Turner is making clear the process to decide about the removal will be, in his words: "thoughtful" but he’s also giving his share of advice to Houstonians. The first step in the process will be taking inventory of Confederate monuments. And as far as confederate monuments throughout the state, Texas is 2nd to Virginia in having the most Confederate monuments. And as for the Confederate monument at the Caddo Parish Courthouse grounds in Shreveport, last week a citizen’s committee passed its recommendation to the Parish Commission to keep the monument in place but add two other monuments nearby commemorating Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement.
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