The Aggie community needs to be more inclusive. The statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, commonly known as Sully, is placed in the Academic Plaza. While Sully made strong contributions to Texas A&M, he served as a Confederate General, saw Blacks as inferior, did not support integration, and was against woman's suffrage. As a Texas Ranger, reports show that he committed nothing short of a massacre on unarmed women and children in a Comanche hunting camp. As a general, Ross took part in numerous campaigns for the South. In one instance, he killed many free slaves in a Cavalry and wrote "The n*groes after the first first broke in wild disorder, each seeming intent on nothing but making his escape. Being mounted on mules, hwoever, but a few of them got away. The road all the way to Yazoo City was literally strewed with their bodies." It's long overdue for the statue to be removed from Academic Plaza. This is the way that we as Aggies can contribute to changing the cultural landscape of our university. t.u. removed statues of four confederate generals back in 2017, with their president saying that such monuments have become "symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism". Like many others, the statue was erected during the period of Jim Crow Laws and segregation, and represents the subjugation of African Americans. This applies today for white supremacists who use them to symbolize hatred and bigotry. Statues represent history, the good and the bad, but the purpose of a statue is to glorify an indivual. Texas A&M should not glorify a man who did not support integration, women's suffrage, and was a confederate general. A man who did not following the Aggie Core Value of Respect towards all people. Ross symbolizes a period of time at Texas A&M when Black students would not be allowed to walk on our campus. It is time to take down this statue and show our Black community and the world that Texas A&M is ready to move on from the past, and look towards a more inclusive future. In addition to signing this petition, email the following: Michael Young (President, PresidentYoung@tamu.edu), Daniel Pugh (VP for Student Affairs, vpsa@tamu.edu), and John Sharp (Chancellor, chancellor@tamus.edu) and voice your support.