The Debate Over Statues

The debate to remove racist statues from public areas has been thriving for decades. The United States is littered with monuments that display racism throughout our history. Living in Virginia, this issue permeates every day life.Virginia has 223 confederate statues, the most of any state. I know of several Schools, Towns, Mascots as well as Statues that are named after and depict Confederate Generals or contain racist undertones. Living in Virginia you also receive both sides of the argument. In every township that contains a debated icon there are always those who state either that racism has no place in this world; or claim that the icon is simply depicting history. Although I understand that living in Virginia does not qualify me as an expert, it does expose me to all sides of the debate. The following writing is simply an opinion, however, we need to examine the history and human emotion attached to these topics to understand what course of action is best.

There are several people that will argue against tearing down or changing statues and icons. An argument I often hear is that removing statues and icons is akin to wiping away history that we believe to be too painful. They will most likely bring up a 1984 like dystopia where we revise and edit history. Although a compelling story, I would argue that keeping the statues up plays directly into their dystopian vision. Let's examine the history of the statues and icons, specifically when they were erected. A majority of the monuments in question were not erected directly after the civil war or even 20 years later. The predominance of monuments were erected in 1910 and in 1960. For those that argue that we are "cherry picking" our history, is this not the prime example of that idea? The people that erected these statues several years after the civil war (in some cases more than 100 years later) chose to build them not because they wanted to honor history, but because they wanted to display the dominance of White America. If you examine the two largest spikes in confederate monument building, you see that they correspond with major events concerning race relations in the United States. In 1910 the bulk of Jim Crow Laws were being passed, bolstering White America's dominance. Additionally In 1960, the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak and directly affected the dominance of White America. It is no coincidence that these events directly correspond to the largest spikes in Confederate monument building. They were built in an effort to display dominance over non-white Americans. Furthermore when examining which groups commissioned and dedicated these monuments, a startling pattern of white nationalist groups (like the KKK) directly supporting and supplementing costs, begins to appear. Displaying once again that the majority of confederate statues are not meant to honor history, but to distort it. Even in my own town we see an example of distorted history. The mascot one of the local high schools is the raiders. The mascot was voted on in 1954 by the all white population of the school just before integration had begun. It is said that the mascot is meant to honor Mosby's Raiders, a regiment of the confederate army. Surprising, until 1980 the school's mascot was depicted with a confederate flag. The dystopian image of distorted history has already come to life. It presents itself not as erasing history we don't like, but as promulgating the painful legacy of racism in an attempt to mar race relations at pivotal points in history.

A similar argument that I hear in connection with this debate is that the monuments themselves don't represent slavery, but represent the fight for states rights. This is a common misconception when it comes to the civil war. Although southern states did favor states rights far more than northern states, the rational for seceding form the union was to protect a states right to allow slavery. It wasn't because Texas or Alabama thought that the federal government was controlling too much of their budget, it was because they were concerned that the practice of slavery would be abolished. This is evidenced by the fact that 4 states, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas, all mention slavery in their declarations of secession. Additionally, the constitution of the confederacy contains a clause stating that no law impairing the right of slavery shall be passed. If the confederacy was primarily concerned with protecting the practice of slavery, then the confederate generals, and the monuments commemorating them, are directly linked to slavery.

A third argument to keep confederate statues standing is a comparison between the statues and Nazi concentration camps. Many will point out that you can tour Auschwitz as well as other concentration camps around Europe. They claim that Germany doesn't tear concentration camps down because they want to remember history. Although this is true, I argue that statues and camps are severely different. Statues are meant to glorify people to (both figuratively and literally) put them on a pedestal. Whereas a concentration camp is a historical site meant to show people the horrors of the holocaust. None of the concentration camps that you can tour honor the holocaust at all, in fact they do the exact opposite. In the United States, we have battlefields, slave quarters, plantations and so many other historical sites that remind us of the original sin of slavery. Furthermore in Germany they are not concerned that their youth will forget the holocaust if they were to tear down any of these sites because they stress their mistakes in school. In the United States, we teach slavery, we teach the racism, discrimination and inhumanity of the United States both in history and today. Just because we take away a statue doesn't mean that we will suddenly forget about our history.

In the old Greek Myths, the gods lived on Mount Olympus above all other mortals. This was no design flaw, the greeks wanted their people to understand that their gods were stronger, smarter, and more powerful than any mortal. Our statues are no different, they are meant to be tall and imposing and make whatever we put on them seem god-like. Statues are meant to signify that whatever we place on them, is something that we revere and respect. However, after understanding what the statues in question really signify, we ask ourselves if these ideals are truly deserving of "god-like status." We have explained that the statues in question were never meant to honor the history of states rights, memory of the confederacy, or even the successes of great presidents; but are meant to display the ideals of white supremacy and white power that have infested the United States. (Furthermore many of those in that list are deplorable to begin with.) I agree that we need to remember and reconcile with the sins of our past, however there are far better ways to achieve that goal. Rather than display the ideals of white power, why not give expanded lessons on black history and the history of discrimination. If there is a true concern as to whether or not history will be wiped away, then ensure that the mistakes of our past are enshrined into our education. We should ensure that the statues we debate today become obsolete, because every man, woman and, child understand the horrors of our past and are committed to doing better than their ancestors.

Citaitons:

List of Confederate monuments and memorials in Virginia. (2020, June 23). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials_in_Virginia

Law Center, S. P. (2019, February 01). Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.splcenter.org/20190201/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy

F, C. (2013, November 4). Absolute Proof the Civil War Was About Slavery. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://portside.org/2013-11-04/absolute-proof-civil-war-was-about-slavery

Wikipedia. (2020, June 17). Confederate States Constitution. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_Constitution

Contributor, Q. (2014, February 06). How Do German Children Learn About the Holocaust? Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/02/how-do-german-students-learn-about-the-holocaust.html

McGreevy, N. (2020, June 23). The Racist Statue of Theodore Roosevelt Will No Longer Loom Over the American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/statue-theodore-roosevelt-removed-reexamination-racist-acts-180975154/

Irons, M. (2020, June 12). Tear down statue of Lincoln towering over kneeling slave, petition says - The Boston Globe. Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/12/metro/tear-down-lincoln-statue-petition-says/

Special Thanks to John Oliver on Last Week Tonight where he talks about the Confederacy.