RE: Regarding The Flap Over Confederate Statues
September 12, 2017 at 10:34 am
(This post was last modified: September 12, 2017 at 10:36 am by Thumpalumpacus.)
(September 12, 2017 at 9:42 am)Rev. Rye Wrote: Well, excuse me for pointing out that there are, in fact, shades of grey in the issue.
We're having a discussion, and we don't disagree about Lee having a decent side or Jefferson being a slave-owner. But the crux of the discussion is not whether or not these leaders have shades of grey in them; of course they do -- all of them. The crux of the discussion is whether their life's work merits the honor of a public memorial which must be viewed, and maintained, by all citizens, including those whom these honorees would have condemned to slavery for millennia if that was their god's will.
Would you ask Jews to fund a statue commemorating Hitler's life and deeds? That is essentially what you are asking here, because in a very real sense, American slavery was an American Holocaust, with blacks killed in large numbers in transit, at work, or in escape, with black families broken apart, with entire lives being usurped. If you think Lee deserves a statue, great. I think any statue of his should reference his defense of this institution.
Whether Lee "fought for Virginia" rather than "defended an odious cause" in his own mind is irrelevant, because the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. That doesn't even consider the fables we tell ourselves to justify our actions even as we may know or suspect that those actions are wrong. Though you've brought a lot of information to this discussion, I don't regard it as germane. Those statues weren't erected to honor Lee's magnificent character and noblesse. They were erected to honor his Confederate service, and erected at times which reveal the context of the honor.
(September 12, 2017 at 9:42 am)Rev. Rye Wrote: Honestly, I think it might be best to leave the whole issue up to the historians who study the war (I'd personally nominate James McPherson [author of The Battle Cry of Freedom, the definitive book on the war, and Barbara Fields [the black historian from the Ken Burns miniseries, even does a good smackdown of Lincoln when discussing his desire to repatriate freed slaves]) to see if the shades of grey in any given Confederate leader are sufficient to consider keeping any statues of them worth it.
The whole issue of what? Public statuary? The biographies of past leaders? I think the public at large should continue to discuss and debate this. These are, after all, public land, public funds, and public memorials.
