Removed Robert E. Lee statue now stands at Texas golf course
TERLINGUA, Texas (NEXSTAR) — A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the city of Dallas removed from a park and later sold during an online auction is now on display at a golf resort in West Texas.
The 1935 sculpture was removed in 2017.
The Houston Chronicle reported that it's now at the Lajitas Golf Resort in Terlingua, Texas. It was among several Lee monuments around the U.S. removed amid the fallout over racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
The 27,000-acre property is owned by billionaire oil mogul Kelcy Warren, who is the CEO of pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners.
Scott Beasley, who manages the golf resort, said the resort is just preserving a piece of art.
But Black Lives Matter Houston activist Brandon Mack wonders whether the same defense would be used for other offensive symbols from throughout history.
Warren has been the focus of protesters in the past for his company's Dakota Access project, a four-state oil pipeline that prompted fears of environmental damage and damage to Native American lands.
Footage of the 2016 demonstrations over the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation, which straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border, showed Native Americans being sprayed with water cannons in freezing weather and were viewed by hundreds of thousands after appearing online and in the news.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.