There have been many stories in the past months about people tearing down statues, many of which had been there for decades. Vandalism and destroying of any property without authorization is unacceptable and should not be tolerated in any civilized society.
While I believe destruction of any property belonging to someone else is morally wrong, I do see value in understanding, where possible, the thinking motivating such drastic actions.
I have never taken a serious look at this issue so I am going to attempt to answer the following questions for myself and for those walking with me on this journey.
What statues have been torn down? When and why were the statues originally erected? What is the reasoning behind the desire to remove the statues? Should some statues be removed? If so, which ones?
I had no idea as to the quantity of statues that have been decapitated, defaced or destroyed since the tragic death of George Floyd. The number is, of course, fluid with incidents increasing surrounding events perceived to be racist in nature. As of the 12th of October, 2020, The Daily Signal identified 113 separate statues suffering this fate.
Identifying a single reason for the current attacks on these historical monuments is impossible just as there is no “one reason” for which we voted for our chosen candidates on our last ballot.
From my perspective, some of these destructive actions have no basis in reason but are just the actions of an angry mob to destroy.
One example of this is the burning of the 120-year-old statue of an elk in downtown Portland. It sat atop the David P. Thompson Fountain. Thompson was a former mayor and politician in the Northwest. He must have been at least a Confederate soldier or part of the KKK???
No, although he saw no action, he joined the US Army during the civil war. In fact, in all of the research I have done, I see nothing and have heard nothing from those participants claiming he was a racist. I have an inside source confirming the elk was not a racist either–just against anyone seeking his hide.
While some of these destructions seem to be without purpose, a theme in many of these actions seem to be an attempt to destroy anything honoring someone who promoted white supremacy. We do need to acknowledge that the main reason for the civil war was based on this premise. This does not mean there weren’t other reasons nor does it mean that everyone fighting for the South was doing so to protect slavery. But statements by the leadership of the Confederacy as these below seem quite incriminating to me.
Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy said “African slavery, as it exists in the United States, is a moral, a social, and a political blessing”. “We recognize the negro as God and God’s Book and God’s Laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him-our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude…You cannot transform him into anything one-tenth as useful or as good as what slavery enables them to be.”
Having acknowledged the main purpose of the Civil War, I think it is worthwhile looking at the memorials which exist today.
In the recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were over 1500 symbols of the Confederacy in the public arena including over 700 Confederate monuments and over 100 schools named after prominent Confederates. The majority of the memorials are in the South, six in California, none in Oregon and one in Washington.
According to this same report, the majority of the monuments were dedicated during two time periods in the 20th century. The first spike was during the first two decades of that century, being the time period in which states were enacting Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise the newly freed African Americans. The second spike was in the 1950’s and 60’s during the civil rights movement. This does seem to be more than just coincidental.
With this acknowledgement in place, we must ask this question. Is it appropriate to display in the public square people whose lives are known for supporting the cause of white supremacy.
Why shouldn’t we have statues or symbols honoring the Confederacy or members thereof removed?
Some will say it is the heritage of the South and not hate that inspires these memorials. Agreed, it is their heritage. But is it a part of the heritage anyone who believes all men were created equal would want to celebrate?
Others will say, we shouldn’t remove these memorials because someone is offended. True, our first amendment right provides for disagreements which inevitably will be offensive to others. That right, however, is for the citizens, not for the government. It is the government’s responsibility to serve all citizens. That would, in my opinion, exclude endorsing anything representing the oppression of some of its citizenry.
Removing Confederate symbols or statues is erasing history for the purpose of being politically correct. Is this truly intended to erase history, or is intended to ensure that history is recorded for what it was–a stain on the history of our great country. Museums are the perfect place to display history and provide the context.
If you take down the confederate statues, why not take down statues of our founding fathers, most of whom were slave owners? I think that needs to point us back to remember why I am suggesting these memorials honoring the confederacy need to be removed. They fought and in some cases died to protect the supremacy of Whites. There is no leader who doesn’t have his or her blemishes and failures. While it is subjective at some level, I think a question to help us with that decision is-“What did they stand for? What are they known for? What did they fight for?
It is not so simple to identify someone fighting for the South as an evil person. Many like Robert E. Lee saw slavery as wrong but still fought for the South. There is no question that the color of the uniform of the south can be viewed as being symbolic, in some cases, entering a gray area. But even though Lee believed slavery to be an “evil”, he still believed in the superiority of whites. This is not a simple issue and we need to continue the discussion to ensure we eliminate our blind spots.
Please don’t misunderstand me to be saying that the removal of statues will cause racism to go away. But can I agree that Confederate memorials without proper context should be offensive to me and to all freedom loving Americans.
If you agree with the above, I encourage you to consider doing something specific to right these wrongs. If you don’t agree, I am sure I will hear from you soon and look forward to that conversation. It isn’t about being right, it is about pursuing truth, and doing the right thing based on that truth.
I didn’t realize they were so blatant in pushing white supremacy.