AUSTIN -- It took workers several attempts to remove the Jefferson Davis statue at University of Texas' Main Mall Sunday morning. After over two hours, crews finally cut the bolts and lifted the monument.
Dozens of students and others gathered to watch the removal, including Terrell Patel, a UT senior.
"This is an accumulation of the decades of struggle for students of color at UT, by moving famous Confederate iconography from the center of campus [to] where it's being honored in a very prominent place," Patel said.
But not everyone was happy.
"We look at this as Dec. 8, 1941," said Kirk Lyons. He compares the statue removal to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He said his group, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, may have lost the battle, but they have not lost the war.
The bronze monument has been the center of controversy for months, and Sunday was no different.
After a peaceful exchange with one woman, arguments began between Lyons and students.
"It's gouging out the eyes out of the Mona Lisa," Lyons told students.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans took matters to court last week to try to stop the move.
"I don't like being a prophet of doom and I don't' like being correct, but I very often am," he said. "They're going to come after all these other statues before it's all over with if we don't stop it now, and that's the point."
He described removing the Davis monument as cultural desecration. He also compared the removal to ISIS, which has destroyed several ancient artifacts.
Lyons said he is now waiting until Monday to take his fight back to a courtroom, hoping to ultimately bring the Davis statue back.
The Davis statue's new home is at the Briscoe Center for American History on campus. The statue of Woodrow Wilson is being relocated to unknown location to retain symmetry on the Main Mall.
UT President Greg Fenves ordered the removals after a special task force made the recommendation. The controversy surrounding the statues increased after the shootings in Charleston, where nine African Americans were killed in a historically black church in June.
