Destroy Confederate Statues (and Yankee Amnesia)

Stone Mountain, Georgia

 

 

Full disclosure, I am a Yankee who believes that many things in our country that are taken as a "source of pride" may actually be a "symbol of national amnesia/ shame". 

We must stop denying/ avoiding the ugly truths, whitewashing history, avoiding the topic of racism, and glorifying injustice (like Lewis & Clark, Manifest Destiny, Mexican-Am War, The American Holocaust on Native Americans, nativism/ jingoism, Vietnam, etc.)
 

 

I frequently ask my students, "Would Germany allow statues of Adolf Hitler, Erwin Rommel, Hermann Goering, or Joseph Goebbels (although they do have Nazi Eagles displayed) to exist and be celebrated in their country?" 

 

Of course not!

 

The Noble Cause, Forgiveness, and Reunion

 

So I ask, "Why do we allow thousands of Confederate statues and memorials (of traitors) to remain in our country?"

 

The answer: Convenient "Truth" and White Reconciliation/ Power

 

We allow the statues because The South in her historical amnesia "fought for Noble Causes"...states rights, popular sovereignty, soldiers' honor, country, etc. instead of facing the true cause...SLAVERY and WHITE POWER.

 

In exchange for statues of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and "Yankee Forgiveness", the South allows us a bout of Yankee Amnesia to "fight for The Noble Cause" of ending slavery instead of our true motivation...THE UNION.

 

 

 

Dr. David Blight (Yale Historian) most succinctly summarizes post- Civil War "Memory"...

 

"Jim Crow danced his steps at hundreds of Confederate monument unveilings and veterans' parades. High atop his monument in Richmond, Lee represented...a sense of pride and soldierly honor, an end to defeatism, and a new sense of racial mastery."

 

 

 There is no honor in glorifying a lie. 

 

Maybe it is time to tear down the Confederate "Heroes", destroy Mt. Rushmore, recognize the legitimate sovereignty of indigenous nation (e.g. Sioux Nation), and build monuments to those who have fought for "all men are created equal."