Posted on 04/01/2019 11:23:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
Editor's note: This column was authored by Ross Marchand.
To say the least, America has a complicated relationship with its past. Hundreds of Confederate monuments dot town squares, mountains, and prominently-placed paintings, and recent tussles show we still have no idea how to deal with them. Dallas’s Confederate War Memorial (near City Hall) was recently deemed by the City Council as “non-contributing to the historic overlay district” in which it resides, and will probably be removed soon—at a cost of half-a-million dollars. Soon, one of Winston-Salem’s most prominent Confederate statues will also come down, amidst “public safety” concerns cited by Mayor Allen Joines.
To the majority of Americans whose families came to this country under four generations ago, the constant tug-of-war over Civil War monuments can feel bizarre. A drab statue of a bearded man in a hat may fill one passerby with pride, and the next with dread and racial terror. I’m a descendant of Ukrainian immigrants, and this particular American fight feels just foreign enough to be familiar.
Most Ukrainians, of course, wouldn’t react much to the old Confederate battle-flag or the sculpted likeness of General Robert E. Lee, but they would respond strongly to the hammer-and-sickle—the oppressive symbol of an occupying power that stymied the country for more than 70 years. To most Americans, the phrase “red terror” alludes to the fear and paranoia that gripped many citizens and politicians at the height of the Cold War. But to the citizens (and descendants) of countries behind the Iron Curtain, red terror made it all-but-impossible to get bread on the table, land a decent job, and speak your mind.
Residents are reminded of that era every day, as I saw a few years ago when I visited my ancestral country. The Soviet-era Motherland Monument stands more than 300 feet and looms over the capital of Kiev, featuring a brazen she-warrior hoisting a shield emblazoned with the dreaded hammer-and-sickle. Given the sheer size of the monument and relatively recent nature of Soviet atrocities, it may seem surprising that the statue remains erect. But, Ukraine took advantage of a sore subject in order to make history relevant to modern viewers.
When residents and tourists climb up the hill to the plateau of the statue, they’re greeted by plaques and tanks that attest to recent Russian provocations in eastern Ukraine. The museum at the base of the statue is no longer a conduit for Soviet propaganda, but instead a discussion of Russian interference. Exhibits extolling the brave Russian troops in the aftermath of the “Great Patriotic War” against the Nazis have largely been replaced by testaments to Russian imperialism—then and now.
This is a far more powerful indictment than tearing down the memories. Sweeping history under the rug and hoping that people will forget about the statues, associated removals, and all of the ugly debate in between. What if American cities offered plaques and galleries close to major monuments bringing the “Lost Cause” depictions into the 21st century?
The impression that most Southerners have of General Lee, for instance, is hard to reconcile with what historians know today about the man. As it turns out, the brilliant tactician was also likely a cruel slave owner that “encouraged his overseers to severely beat slaves captured after trying to escape” according to historical records. A written explanation and/or gallery can capture this complexity far better than a blunt opportunistic removal by a city government.
Contextualizing the Lost Cause is not without precedent. In fact, one of Atlanta’s biggest monuments to the Confederate effort has been brilliantly retouched — and re-explained — to an eager public. The Atlantic contributor Daniel Judt explains how the giant mural known as the Atlanta Cyclorama is being used by historians and the city to tell the story of how mythology has enveloped Americans’ view of the Civil War. Visitors to the Atlanta History Center are treated to a “myths of the Civil War” exhibit before seeing the Cyclorama, as well as a film discussing how the mural has meant different things to different people at different times.
These sorts of nuanced explanations are befitting for an American public told many different things about our strange story. But the experience of other places in coming to terms with their bloodied pasts shows better ways to deal with these issues. Moving forward, Dallas and Winston-Salem should take a page from Kiev and Atlanta in finding a place for the past in the present. Removing these statues only adds intrigue to historical figures that don’t deserve to be whitewashed into oblivion. 154 years after the last shot was fired, America can finally make itself whole again—but first, it must come to terms with, not bury, it’s complicated past.
Ironic isn’t it?
Democrats insisting on tearing down monuments of Democrats of prior years.
Quite disturbing actually it’s akin to a Maoist cultural revolution. I read an article over the weekend that they’re also wanting to have a Thomas Jefferson statue removed.
The other side of the coin is; be ready, willing and able to prosecute those who do knock down or destroy these monuments.
I don’t mean any three years probation either. Lock them up for a good six months, and fine these people.
Word will get around that there are negative consequences to acting like an idiot in this manner.
No more Mr. or Ms Nice-Guy-Judge!
I think it is important that Cofederate monuments remain standing to remind us who lost the War to Maintain Slavery.
If the Woke want a monument down put up a second. If they want a place name changed take back one that’s already been changed.
Whatever they want, do what will make them madder.
And laugh and mock them.
They were better men than the Woke Leftist turds shat out by the Cultural Marxists.
The Georgia legislature just passed another law making it even more difficult to take down monuments, Governor Kemp is expected to sign it. Thank you.
America’s Cultural Revolution has everything Mao had e3xcept crowds of automatons waving their edition of The Little Red Book.
Here comes the judge ...
God bless Georgia!
Didn’t they have to remove the ‘Stars and Bars’ from their state flag?
The flag change was in 2000 when democrats and 5 turn coat Republicans votes to dump the Confederate battle flag from the state flag. However, they had enough foresight to place in the bill that monuments could not be moved without legislative approval and this new law strengthens that provision. Alabama just passed a similar law and most Southern states have these laws in place now.
The original law protecting monuments has been on the books in GA since 2000 without a court challenge.
’ As it turns out, the brilliant tactician was also likely a cruel slave owner that “encouraged his overseers to severely beat slaves captured after trying to escape” according to historical records.”
What a steaming load of garbage. Lee’s wife inherited her father’s slaves (descended from the slaves owned by his mother, Martha Washington).
Lee’s father in law asked that his slaves be released no later than fives years after his death.
But George Washington Parke Custis also left his estate, Arlington House, in debt. And the creditors could claim the slaves if they weren’t paid, meaning that they wouldn’t be freed.
Lee worked the slaves long enough to pay off the creditors and they were then freed.
Karl Marx couldn’t have said it better. In fact he said that very thing, in his columns for Horace Greeley’s New York
Tribune.
The Constitution had been in place for over 230 years, and that hasn't stopped judges from ruling against it.
Didn’t they have to remove the ‘Stars and Bars’ from their state flag?
......................................
No, they didn’t have to, but the cowards in the legislature rolled over to appease the anti-American iconoclasts and their contemptible phony righteousness.
Nowa rhe time ro erect staturs of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and Sheridan (indians will love that) and remind blacks who were the liberators and what party were the tyrants!
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.