Considering Confederate statues and the questions
surrounding their removal, my thoughts return to a few thoughts. First, these
monuments commemorate slavery by literally and figuratively placing the
Confederacy on pedestals. Second, the majority of these monuments were placed
during the Jim Crow era, not in the years following the end of the Civil War.
Third, while I do not advocate for the destruction of art works, even when I
disagree with the meanings behind them, I do not believe these statues belong
in public spaces. To clarify, land owned by municipalities are public spaces
and the sites of many of these statues are on city or town property, not
private land. Fourth, although I disagree with monuments to racism and slavery,
I do not condone vandalism of such. Yes, I do believe these works should be
removed to other locations where they can be contextualized, like a graveyard
or museum. A graveyard seems appropriate because the Confederacy died in the 19th
century. A museum can place the monuments in a historical context and use them
as educational tools on the reality of the Civil War, the Confederacy, and the
horrific institution of slavery, as well as the racist ideologies that persist.
Finally, a number of these memorials to racism, slavery, and the Confederacy
were not commissioned by public authorities but rather by private citizen
groups to whom those antiquated ideas are still relevant to their social
beliefs.
We live in a nation comprised of various races, religions, and
ethnicities with a history of oppressing people of color, Native Tribal
Nations, women, LGBTQ, and too many other minority groups. How can the US be
the “land of the free” when such suppression continues? How can we claim any level
of moral authority when racism runs rampant in multiple levels of government
and law enforcement? We aren’t and we can’t. As long as these monuments to
slavery and racism stand, we will not achieve the great American dream of a
prosperous and peaceful nation. We, as a nation, need to honestly face the
past, have that painful day of reckoning, and change our ways, before moving
forward. If we do not, we are lost to the dusty shelves, where the Confederacy
and monuments to racism belong.
