Texas A&M star quarterback Kellen Mond wants a statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross removed from campus.
Mond posted a letter Tuesday night demanding that the statue, known as “Sully,” of the former Texas governor and Texas A&M president come down. Ross served as president of A&M from 1891 through 1898. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
The reasons why? Well, it more or less boils down to the fact Ross served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, and to the actions he took while governor.
One of the examples listed by Mond is that Ross sent troops “into a predominantly black community in Texas to dismantle, kill and wound the people.”
LETS NOT FORGET SULLY. pic.twitter.com/mTBEoyhkq7
— K M o n d (@TheKellenMond) June 17, 2020
ESPN noted that there are some legitimate reasons Ross has so much support. He’s reportedly viewed as the man responsible for saving the university, who helped get funding for Prairie View A&M.
ESPN also reported there are petitions circulating to keep up the statue as well as petitions to take it down. Support appears to be pretty split overall.
I don’t really care one way or the other because I have zero ties of any kind to Texas A&M. All I know for sure is that it’s a dangerous road to travel.
If we start tearing down the statue of anyone who fought for the Confederacy, we’re going to be going down a long list.
As ESPN pointed, there are very valid reasons to suggest Ross isn’t the devil. Believe it or not, judging people from more than 100 years ago by the standards of today is very foolish.
It’s not just foolish, it’s also incredibly stupid and unnecessary. You can be a good person who did bad things. I’m not saying that’s the case from Ross, but he seems to be in a much better position than most historical figures.
Always bro! ???? https://t.co/oNQs5r0HZL
— K M o n d (@TheKellenMond) June 17, 2020
I think the statue debate is an interesting one, and I think people should be open to different ideas. However, we’re all in for a rough time if we judge every single historical figure by the standards of today.
That’s just nonsense. Should we just scrub any reference to anyone who ever owned slaves from the history books? You can’t change history.
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Prominent people did things that are abhorrent by the standards of today. That doesn’t mean we should eliminate them from history or pretend they’re all the devil.
Ultimately, it’s up to the people at Texas A&M to decide what’s best for them, but we should take a long, hard look before we start scrubbing history.