The
danger behind taking down Confederate monuments,
like ISIS
bombing museums
It becomes tiresome pointing out the same old
historical half-truths when talking about the War Between the States.
So in the interest of not getting distracted
from my main point, let’s ignore the many reasons other than slavery behind the
formation of the Confederate States of America (CSA).
Why not? Most do already. Instead, let’s talk
about why current politicians’ taking down monuments to CSA soldiers and
politicians is far more dangerous than allowing them to remain.
First, a word about symbols. It is entirely
possible, and in fact most often the case, that symbols can contain a multitude
of meanings.
That meaning is determined by the context in
the which the symbol is seen, and by the person the viewer of the symbol is.
You may see the U.S. flag, and feel inspired
as it reminds you of patriotism and love of country; citizens of other
countries often have a far different interpretation.
I see the cross, and am reminded of the
inestimable love of Jesus, while non-Christians may have a negative reaction.
And who is to say that one side is wrong?
Symbols do not have meaning separate from the
context in which they exist. The meaning is an artificial construct — a red
rose is simply a flower until someone from a culture which view both the flower
and its color as significant sees it.
That means that it is entirely possible that
the person who tells you a Confederate monument or flag represents pride in
regional heritage is not in fact racist.
That does not mean that to someone else, the
flag or monument does embody racism — usually the argument against the flags of
the CSA are predicated on the fact that slavery was an economic issue behind
the South’s dissatisfaction with remaining in the Union.
This completely ignores the objective fact
that the Union did not disavow slavery upon commencing actions against the CSA,
and continued to have slavery be legal in the slave states of the Union even
AFTER the Emancipation Proclamation freed some slaves in very specific areas.
It is usually also brought up that racist
groups like the Ku Klux Klan have used the flags, again ignoring the role of
the U.S. flag in the racist groups’ rallies, etc.
Minus any evidence to the contrary, the fact
is that it is the willful ignorance, or conscious ignoring, of these facts that
allow politicians and various organizations to manipulate the public through
craven appeal to a simplistic understanding.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars — from some
unknown source — were used to remove statues and memorials in New Orleans.
Now the mayor can gleefully claim to have
fought the nasty racists, and undoubtedly those who have rewarded him with
accolades and their applause will continue to congratulate him and his cronies
on this grand stand against racism.
It’s an easy — if tawdry — way to get a bump
in approval. But at the end of the day, how has it made the life of even one
New Orleans minority citizen better?
The supposedly private funds used to destroy
part of the history of a city with a large amount of historical tourism might
have been used to help rectify the housing shortage which continues to burden
the largely minority workforce that enables the tourism industry to succeed.
It could have been used to help transform the
lackluster public education system, enabling even the poorest citizens to have
confidence that their children were receiving the kind of education which would
equip them to take their place in society and be the kind of leaders so
desperately needed in New Orleans.
Instead, it went to the wanton destruction of
items that had no impact on the day-to-day lives of the very population most in
need of having the real legacy of racism erased.
The greatest danger in this kind of empty
political stunt is the fact it enables smug, self-satisfied Yankees and
“progressive” Southerners to once again make the CSA and the South their racial
scapegoat.
Northerners won’t have to grapple with the
embedded racism that informed their region in the 1860s, and which continues to
this day. Those self-hating Southerners can pretend that they have risen above
it.
How glorious to be amongst the non-racists of
the United States! How grand to know that there is nothing other than removing
those statues that need be done!
The hard work of ensuring equality for all
requires all hands on deck.
By seeking to alienate a large portion of
citizens who rightly wish to preserve their historical heritage and NOT support
racism, those who take advantage of the ignorance and easily swayed opinions of
otherwise well-meaning liberals do the cause of freedom, justice and equality
an extreme disservice.
It also doesn’t serve our nation in the long
run to ignore large chunks of our history and pretend that the complexities of
our past just didn’t exist.
It doesn’t advance us; it puts us on the
level of ISIS and all those who delight in bombing statues, destroying museums
and trying to erase that which doesn’t support their agenda.
CHRISTINE
BARR is an educator, mother of four and former Henry County resident who now
resides in Texas.
