***Taking Down Monuments ***

What happens when a monument no longer reflects the values of a society? Or (more likely) when a monument is still cherished by some, but reviled by others? What do we, as a community, do then? We’ll spend the first hour exploring how other countries and cities have dealt with their obsolete and controversial monuments (the theory) and the second hour discussing how San Antonio is addressing the Confederate monuments, symbols and names that remain as part of the civic landscape (the action.)

Susan Ives, as a member of the peaceCENTER’s Core Team, has been exploring the meaning and impact of monuments for more than a decade. The doors will be open at 6:30. Come early to schmooze (but we might ask you to help move chairs!) If you’re coming from work or school, feel free to bring dinner. Free and open to the public. The Rock House is a little rock house behind the administration building at Oblate School of Theology, 285 Oblate Drive, SATX 78216. If you need a campus map, we have one here: www.sanantoniopeace.center/where-we-are/

Here are a couple of articles you might want to watch / read before attending — not required, but useful”

What’s San Antonio trying to prove? Scalawag Magazine by Sol Weiner, January 12, 2016

Removing Racist Symbols Isn’t a Denial of History, Chronicle of Higher Education, by Christopher Phelps January 08, 2016

Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong., Washington Post, by James W. Loewen July 1, 2015