The hymn
Amazing Grace was written in 1779 by John Newton, a former slave ship Captain.
It is a powerful song. These are lyrics
from the song: “Amazing grace! How sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was
blind, but now I see.” Wretch. He was a man who sought forgiveness for his
wretched actions of trafficking in human beings.
There has been
a lot of press lately about cities removing Confederate monuments from public
property. That is, property owned and maintained by municipal governments, paid
for with our tax dollars – the tax dollars of each and every one of us: black,
white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and every other ethnicity you can name.
Should we
erect statues to human traffickers who tortured their victims? Are there “good”
traffickers and “bad” traffickers?
How about
traitors to our nation? I mean actual traitors. Real traitors. Not make believe
traitors. Traitors who actually fought against our nation? Should we erect
statues to honor them?
Should we
ignore evil and those who supported it?
No, I don’t
think that we should rewrite the history of our nation. I believe it’s way past
time to remember it. Especially since white supremacy is on the rise yet again.
We need to acknowledge what happened and what is happening. Attempts are being
made to rewrite history by white washing it; to cover it up and gloss it over
like it really wasn’t so bad after all.
First of all,
there weren’t “good” slave owners and “bad” slave owners; there were bad slave
owners and horrific slave owners. Owners trafficked human beings with one
another. These were men and women who believed they had the right to own human
beings. Slaves were punished. They were raped. They were bred. They were slaughtered.
Their families were broken up. Children were worked. Slaves were tortured. They
had horrible living conditions. They were property. They weren’t free.
I see people
saying that we need to research the civil war and its cause again. No, we
don’t. We really don’t. We don’t need to search anew to validate what has been
known in this nation since the Civil War was fought.
Men like
General Lee and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. They owned human beings. They
trafficked in human beings. Human. Beings. Just as we have traffickers today we
had them then. There were tens of thousands directly involved in the human
trafficking (slave) trade.
I’m guessing
that the overwhelming majority of people have never felt the lash of a whip. I
was “accidentally” hit by one by my older brother when were kids. One hit. It
felt like my leg was on fire. There was a red welt around my leg where it hit.
Imagine being whipped with one until your skin was flayed open. Then think
about having brine poured over all the open wounds. Slave owner Robert E. Lee
did that. Does he really deserve the multiple statues erected to him? Why not
just start erecting statues to serial killers because they’re a part of our
history?
One of the
many points of contention is that these monuments and symbols of slavery are
displayed at government buildings. If people want to display such items at in
the private sector that is their right. They can keep their memories alive in
their front yards with those black faced yard ornament greeters to celebrate
the history of human traffickers along with their Confederate flags. You can
call it what you want. I don’t call it patriotism and it isn’t the flag I
served under.
What of
Confederate veterans of the Confederate States of America? They were entitled
to a decent burial. Their graves should not be desecrated. Neither should their
history be forgotten. But…they fought for the wrong side. They fought as
traitors to our nation. They fought for slavery. They lost. They weren’t
veterans of the United States of America. That’s the nation that they fought
against.
And after the
traitors and human traffickers lost they continued to subjugate an entire race through
segregation, into modern times. The KKK is still in existence though not as
prevalent as it once was. Those that would enslave others still walk amongst us
and in far greater numbers than we would like to imagine. They have their
heroes. Heroes from the Civil War and up through today. Should government
buildings have statues of Grand Dukes of the past of the KKK erected? They’re a
part of the nation’s history too. They still threaten.
How should we
honor veterans of the United States of America that fought in the civil war?
Does erecting statues to their enemies honor them? Not any more than erecting
monuments to the generals and leaders of any other nation that we fought
against would.
Tear them
down. Bulldoze them. Remove them to private property if you must. Instead, honor
the veterans that fought for the United States of America and against slavery.
I understand
that there are veterans and even people of color who support signs of the
Confederacy. That’s just the way it is in this country. People will go to great
lengths to support, justify and rationalize their beliefs. That doesn’t mean
that they’re right any more than the holocaust deniers or flat earth
(seriously), the moon landing was a scam, the earth is only 6,000 years old,
believers are right. (Throw in a host of other believers since the last
election.) These people aren’t going to have their minds changed. They are true
believers.
There are also
those that believe that since these monuments have been around so long it
really doesn’t matter anymore; that people don’t care. That’s not just sad,
it’s tragic. It just is. And it’s wrong. Lots of people do care; that’s why
there has been such interest of late in removing them. We used to do things
just because they were right and history is important; and now so are people
like the mayor of New Orleans.
Does it cost
to tear them down? Yes. And that is too bad. This is usually where someone will
present an either/or argument. Use the money to tear down a monument or feed
children. Use the money to tear down a monument or take care of homeless
veterans. This fallacy reduces government to only being about 2 things.
Government and budgets are about thousands of things.
I believe that
Union veterans of the civil war said it best in 1903 when they successfully
opposed a statue of Robert E. Lee being placed upon the battlefield at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From that time: John Stewart of Chambersburg argued,
“But what is to be gained by putting this statue of Lee on Gettysburg
battlefield? If you want historical accuracy as your excuse, then place upon
this field a statue of Lee holding in his hand the banner under which he
fought, bearing the legend: ‘We wage this war against a government conceived in
liberty and dedicated to humanity.”