Regarding The Flap Over Confederate Statues

[bennyboy]

We are talking about memorials. Symbolism comes with the territory. We don't erect monuments to men and causes we don't appreciate. Whether you in your Canadian whiteness understand it or not, those statues have a message to American blacks, and it ain't, "Golly, wasn't that Bobby Lee a fine fellow?"

Are you sure there's really such a deep concern about negative symbolism? Might want to ask the natives, my own ancestors included, how they feel about the statues of Custer, Columbus, and Andrew Jackson all over the place. Fuck it, might even want to look into Lincoln's stance on the natives, and tear that guy's statues down too.

See, here's the way I see it: if someone is in a position of power or leadership, he's probably fucked somebody. Our social network is so deeply intertwined that even peaceful, law-abiding folk are complicit in horrible crimes.

But I'm okay with that. If I was nearby a park with a General Lee statue (or Lincoln or Tecumsah), I'd love to go over and see what those fuckers looked like. It's interesting. I'd read the little plaque, learn a little something, and then spread my picnic blanket on the grass.

Now, if you want to know if I think black people should be treated equally-- fuck yes. My western teaching staff here in Korea are currently 80% black (not counting my white self in the metric)-- not because I'm trying to fight the good battle, because I was sensible enough to realize they were the best people I had access to at the time of hire. You want symbols? Check out the long list of zeroes on the teachers' paychecks. Those are symbols worth really fighting for.

I'm a little uncomfortable because it's looking like I'm a KKK guy or something. But that's not it-- I value cultural diversity, and that means including all the main players in history as visible icons. It means letting even Southern racists have their voice, and some avenue for their cultural expression. Put up a goddamned statue of Hitler in Berlin so the Jews have something to piss on. Put up one of Charlie Manson. Put up Trump or Justin Bieber. Then pass me a beer and throw me a frisbee.