Why historical monuments don't always work as public art Photo of Molly Glentzer Molly Glentzer Aug. 22, 2017 Updated: Aug. 26, 2017 3:58 p.m. More Comments Print 4 1 of 4"Spirit of Confederacy" stands in Sam Houston Park on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 in Houston. A group has started a petition to take down the statue.Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Staff 2 of 4The Richard Dowling statue near the entrance to Hermann Park Monday, Aug. 21, 2017, in Houston.Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle 3 of 4Statue of Christopher Columbus was vandalized Thursday night at Bell Park on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017, in Houston.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Houston Chronicle 4 of 4Conservators John Griswold, right, and Lisa LaVine inspect Luis Jimenez's "Vaquero," installed in Moody Park in 2002. Photo: Ben DeSoto, Staff

We are not ISIS, are we?

Not that an early-20th-century Confederate monument occupies the same moral ground as the ancient Assyrian site at Ashur destroyed in 2015 by rampaging extremists. But Andrew Schneck's alleged attempt to blow up the Dick Dowling monument in Hermann Park Saturday night was no valiant act of protest.

Not that an early-20th-century Confederate monument occupies the same moral ground as the ancient Assyrian site at Ashur destroyed in 2015 by rampaging extremists. But Andrew Schneck's alleged attempt to blow up the Dick Dowling monument in Hermann Park Saturday night was no valiant act of protest.