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https://millercenter.org/experts/douglas-blackmonFor many years, I argued that the day would come when white southerners would no longer be able to simply close their ears and eyes on the issue of all the Confederate monuments on our town squares, and occasionally in graveyards.
My view was always that at a minimum, they should be "curated," with at least a sign that explained why they were erected during the 1910s and 1920s (mostly), what was happening at the time that encouraged that (the passing of the Civil War generation combined with the high point of oppression of black citizens). I reminded people that every time a county worker sweeps the base of that monument on the square, it is an expenditure of tax dollars and a decision a reaffirm whatever that monument says to the young African-American girl coming to get her first driver's license that day.
I said these objects of history should be explained, and that new monuments to opponents of slavery and pioneers of racial justice should be erected as well. And that in the case of monuments to slave traders or war criminals (Nathan Bedford Forrest), they could appropriately be taken down. I said if the majority in a community had a right to erect a statue in the 1920s, shouldn't the majority in the same community have a right in the 2010s to take it down, or move it to a museum.
I said the Confederate battle flag shouldn't be the official symbol--or part of one--for any government entity anymore, but that obviously they should be preserved in museums.
Through 25 years of those conversations, I was told 1,000 times by "heritage" activists that what I suggested was an insult to my ancestors, and political correctness run amok, and once that started that next the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument would be torn down.
I always responded that that was ridiculous, and that if supporters of preserving Confederate heritage couldn't become honest about how so much of what they defend really stands only for white supremacy and the oppression of black people, that *someday* the tide of history would blow past them. After seeing what appears certain to have been a radical Christian/nazi terror attack on Saturday, that day has come.
Earlier today, I posted this sequence of tweets on Twitter feed:
1/ Southern whites had 150 years to figure out how to honor Confederate dead w/out insulting the living. Time is up.
2/ Vast majority of Confederate monuments were erected 50-60 years AFTER civil war, to tell black people "No, you are NOT citizens any more."
3/ They are messages placed at center of commerce & seats of govt, to remind African-Americans that white people were back in total command.
4/ Confed monuments were built to tell blacks you will NEVER vote, NEVER have fair treatment in courts, NEVER be secure in your homes...
5/ ...NEVER win justice from white rapists and murderers, NEVER enjoy the full benefits of the American economic system...
6/ ...NEVER be anything other than a servile second class.
White southerners--my people--refused to confront this. Lied and denied...
7/ Instead argued about how many enslaved women could be counted on the head of Thomas Jefferson's pin, and whether Robert E Lee *really*...
8/ ...whether Robert E Lee *really believed* in slavery or actually was a good man w/ doubts about the cruelty he happened to lived off.
9/ It's time to stop all this crazy white delusion about Confederate monuments. They glorify treason and cruelty. That are unAmerican. #DOWN
10/ I am the great-g-g-g-grandson of a veteran of Lee's Army of North Virginia. Monuments that "honor" them DISHONOR my children. #DOWN
I said these objects of history should be explained, and that new monuments to opponents of slavery and pioneers of racial justice should be erected as well. And that in the case of monuments to slave traders or war criminals (Nathan Bedford Forrest), they could appropriately be taken down. I said if the majority in a community had a right to erect a statue in the 1920s, shouldn't the majority in the same community have a right in the 2010s to take it down, or move it to a museum.
I said the Confederate battle flag shouldn't be the official symbol--or part of one--for any government entity anymore, but that obviously they should be preserved in museums.
Through 25 years of those conversations, I was told 1,000 times by "heritage" activists that what I suggested was an insult to my ancestors, and political correctness run amok, and once that started that next the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument would be torn down.
I always responded that that was ridiculous, and that if supporters of preserving Confederate heritage couldn't become honest about how so much of what they defend really stands only for white supremacy and the oppression of black people, that *someday* the tide of history would blow past them. After seeing what appears certain to have been a radical Christian/nazi terror attack on Saturday, that day has come.
Earlier today, I posted this sequence of tweets on Twitter feed:
1/ Southern whites had 150 years to figure out how to honor Confederate dead w/out insulting the living. Time is up.
2/ Vast majority of Confederate monuments were erected 50-60 years AFTER civil war, to tell black people "No, you are NOT citizens any more."
3/ They are messages placed at center of commerce & seats of govt, to remind African-Americans that white people were back in total command.
4/ Confed monuments were built to tell blacks you will NEVER vote, NEVER have fair treatment in courts, NEVER be secure in your homes...
5/ ...NEVER win justice from white rapists and murderers, NEVER enjoy the full benefits of the American economic system...
6/ ...NEVER be anything other than a servile second class.
White southerners--my people--refused to confront this. Lied and denied...
7/ Instead argued about how many enslaved women could be counted on the head of Thomas Jefferson's pin, and whether Robert E Lee *really*...
8/ ...whether Robert E Lee *really believed* in slavery or actually was a good man w/ doubts about the cruelty he happened to lived off.
9/ It's time to stop all this crazy white delusion about Confederate monuments. They glorify treason and cruelty. That are unAmerican. #DOWN
10/ I am the great-g-g-g-grandson of a veteran of Lee's Army of North Virginia. Monuments that "honor" them DISHONOR my children. #DOWN
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