Lawmaker: Texas governor supports Confederate marker removal
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A black Texas lawmaker says Republican Gov. Greg Abbott privately told him that he supports removing a Confederate marker inside the State Capitol that rejects slavery as an underlying cause of the Civil War.
An Abbott spokeswoman Friday stopped short of saying the plaque would come down and did not say if the plaque is appropriate. Ciara Matthews says the governor will ask state officials to look into the issue.
But Democratic state Rep. Eric Johnson says Abbott seemed to agree a 1959 plaque titled "Children of the Confederacy Creed" was historically indefensible. He says Abbott didn't try defending the plaque during a meeting in Dallas.
Johnson has for months called for its removal as Confederate markers come down nationwide.
Abbott has said previously that removing monuments won't erase history.