By Richard Ray:
Confederacy enthusiasts would have you believe that their zealous desires to keep all Confederate flags, memorials, statutes and monuments displayed prominently in public settings is because of the historical and cultural symbolism of such items. Yet, I would state that it is that very argument that calls for the removal of all Confederate Symbols because of the historical and cultural symbolism that it in fact represents. I use one simple analogy to emphasize the point.
Hitler and the Nazi flag/Swastika may be the most historically and culturally relevant person and symbol in all of Germany’s history. There is really no arguing his and its relevance. As egregious as the acts committed byHitler and the Nazi party it could be argued that at some point they had millions of supporters (as well as some today). Yet, the horrors of his and the Nazi party’s acts as well as the symbol of the hatred they represented, warrant that memorializing them with statutes and monuments in public settings has been overridden despite their significance and the nationalistic pride they once also represented to Germany. You cannot honor one thing whilst ignoring the greater representative mark left by the man and his party.
That is what the confederate flag and the Confederacy is to most of the 38 million African Americans in the United States. This is a flag, generals and soldiers that fought to secede from the union primarily because of their unwillingness to eliminate slavery. The Confederacy represents an institution that was willing to fight a bloody war…to secede from our nation… to fight to keep tens of millions of people enslaved. This is a crucially important piece of America’s history. By all means this should be taught and the monuments and statutes and flags moved to museums to teach and preserve history. Yet, by no means should these people and symbols continue to be celebrated within our country today.
Most of the Confederate statutes and monuments were erected 35-40 years after the Civil War and many others during the 1960s. The fact that the symbols began to appear in public locales so many years after the war is not so coincidental. Jim Crow laws promoting legal separation of races within the South were in full effect and the erection of these symbols were a not so coincidental nor subtle reminder to Blacks that while the war may not have been won, the principals and ideology of the Confederacy still reigned.
You can never change history… but you can change its retelling in a more accurate and truthful way. Our country should not be celebrating an ideology of hate. Fighting to continue to enslave tens of millions of people is an ultimate definition of hate. We cannot continue to honor the Confederacy with statues and monuments in public settings. We cannot celebrate their ideology. Place those symbols in museums and teach all people an objective telling of our country’s history. Our nation should not hide from some of its sordid past. Instead we should tell the truth and in doing so embrace our progress.
The original US Constitution did not speak for any women or their rights. The original US Constitution did not consider Blacks or other POC as equal citizens. Yet, when applied to all people equally today, the Constitution is a great document of inclusiveness. We cannot read or look at history in a vacuum. The imperfections and wrongs (and I am not referring to personality traits or imperfections but egregious qualities like slave ownership) of our past leaders must be told with the same depth as we extoll their accomplishments.
History cannot be changed, but as people we cannot continue to celebrate ideology or symbols that promulgated hate. We are leader of the world. How can we expect others to follow our lead, if we are in fact setting such a bad example?
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