March 23, 2018[dropcap]D[/dropcap]eath, violence, and unnecessary arrests. What do all these things have in common? These words are all results of protesters trying to take down Confederate monuments across the United States of America.
Why People Want the Statues Removed
June 17, 2015 will be a day remembered in history as a tragic event that brought awareness to our Confederate past. According to CNN, Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, shot and killed 9 people who were part of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina on that Monday. Roof is not a representation of all white people in America, he is a representation of poor life decisions. Reported by Daily Intelligencer, Roof was photographed with a Confederate flag. The image was disturbing to many because he was honoring a poor part of our past and using it as the reason behind the shooting. Soon people began to place their hatred of not only America’s past, but also place hatred on Confederate flags and on the over 700 statues scattered around the United States because they believe they are supporting white supremacy. Based on what these statues represent to some individuals, the solution to some is to remove the monuments, but removing them won’t solve the issue with white supremacists that they are trying to fix.
Similarly, there are extreme cases of disapproval like when James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car into a crowd of protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to New York Times he killed a woman and injured 34 more at a rally turned violent to keep the Robert E. Lee statue. Also According to CNN, high school classmates claimed that Fields had “extreme views and a fascination with Nazism,” but no one really thought he was capable of doing something like that. These extreme cases when citizens harm or murder opposing protesters are not a representation of what American citizens will do to enforce their beliefs. What is the point of letting this small issue anger yourself to the point of murder?
[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]What is the point of letting this small issue anger yourself to the point of murder.[/perfectpullquote]
What are People Doing About the Monuments
The U.S. is built on freedom — the freedom of speech, press, and petition to name a few. We are a country founded on the premise of accepting people’s points of view with open arms. Peaceful protesting the statues is a great way to get your point across, however when the protests turn violent, it is no longer acceptable. Why are people now destroying and removing property because of what someone thought was right a long time ago. At the time of the civil war, those citizens stood up for what they thought was right. As a country we have all realized that they weren’t doing the right thing, but that was over 150 years ago and those citizens are all long gone. People are entitled to their own opinion, but why try and persuade the government by taking your anger out on statues. Destroying the property won’t change what happened. Not only is the destruction of government property unethical, it is illegal.
Additionally, our first amendment ensures our freedom to peacefully assemble, based on an article from the Huffington Post there was nothing peaceful about what happened in Durham, North Carolina when protesters destroyed a Confederate statue. Protesters tied a rope around the statue and pulled it down until it fell and crumpled. Once the statue fell, protesters took turns spitting, kicking, or cursing the statue. The destruction of government property and monuments is a felony and should not be taken lightly. Takiya Thompson, who has admitted to assisting in the destruction of the Durham statue, has been arrested and dozens have offered to be arrested in hopes of showing that they are willing to do what it takes to show their perspective on the matter.
It is extremely respectable to fight for what you believe is right, but destroying property, especially the governments, is not the way to go about it. Protesting statues by ruining them is wasted energy that could have been put into a different way to persuade cities to remove them.
The Statues Should Stay
All in all, the statues across the U.S. are not put up to idolize the confederacy or to shine light on white supremacy, the monuments are there to bring attention to the wrong they did. The blame that has been placed on statues for events like what happened at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, but the blame has been misplaced, and instead should be put onto Roof, it’s no ones fault but his own.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]People are entitled to their own opinion, but why try and persuade the government by taking your anger out on statues.[/perfectpullquote]
Overall, the issue with statues getting destroyed and hidden away is that sooner or later, the lessons learned from the Civil War will be forgotten. Day after day people would walk by the statues and think of the past, remember how terrible it was for everyone, and be grateful it is over. Now, the statues are being taken down and for a few years people will walk by the places the statues used to be and remember the protests and the history behind the statues that used to be there. Eventually as generations walk by the places the statues used to be, they won’t think of the past as often, if at all, and the history will slowly slip away. When the past gets pushed aside, it is inevitable that it will be repeated in some form. Sure, removing the statues would make yo1ur morning walk more pleasant, but in the Civil War many people died, and it shouldn’t become a forgotten lesson on allowing rights for all. Even President Donald Trump called the removal “foolish” in a series of tweets.
Is that morning walk worth the pain of what many people had to go through?
Statues have a negative connotation because when people walk by, they automatically feel hate for the people the statues depict and for what happened over a century and a half ago. Instead of allowing the negativity to take over right away, pause and think about what the war accomplished in freeing African Americans from slavery. In an opinion article, “Opinion: Don’t Take Down Confederate Monuments. Here’s why.” published by NBC, the author Sophia A. Nelson points out the violation of freedoms promised in America: “I do not think it reflects the great first amendment freedoms America was founded upon.” She later points out how in the U.S. citizens, although it is frowned upon, can have extreme beliefs in Naziism, and portray it in their home. No one can tell them not to own symbols of Naziism, and no one has the right to deny someone their right to recognize the past and family who died for what they believed in.
To conclude, there currently is not a place for removed statues to go. Removal of statues seems like a violation of American rights. The statues could be melted and taken apart to find a home in repurposed items, but they shouldn’t. The home for the misplaced statues should instead be in museums scattered across the country, or have large memorial areas dedicated to the rough time in history. Putting the statues in a museum or memorial areas allows for citizens to go see them when they choose, which could be a possible solution for those who do not approve of seeing the statues in their day to day life.
Featured image by JamesDeMers
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Adam
Let the people decide, but I does stand as a reminder of our past. You don’t have to look at it as oppressive, look at it as a piece of history that needs to be remembered so we don’t make the same mistakes again.
Adam
Correction, “But IT does stand as a reminder of our past.” Also to add to my original post, I do think the main reason to keep these very statues standing is as a sign of progress we have made as a country from that time. We should recognize our mistakes, but also have the courage to face them and MOVE ON. Could you imagine if we took down memorials and statues dedicated to the holocaust, the deadliest and most horrid genocide in HISTORY, because someone was offended? No, we must remember our past, but never look back and keep moving forward.
Student
I feel as though the best course of action is to keep these statues in museums rather than in the public. I think having the statues out in public sends the wrong message, and rather if they are in museums it would send the correct message across (remembering history). If they are in public the statues seem to give off a sort of commemorative tone that makes them seem like they’re there to praise/admire the past, but rather if they were in museums it would again be more of a remembrance tone (much like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.) which I think is the message many are trying to get across.
Student
In Germany, they don’t have any statues of Nazi leaders, nor do they allow the swastika to be shown. Yet, we show the confederate leaders, and we claim it to be for history. If that were true, we would have statues of the people who didn’t want slavery. Although neither of the sides of the civil war believed in equality for black people, shouldn’t we show the victory of the side that wanted to free slaves? There’s your concern for history. In essence, these statues promote racist ideals. Whether or not that was the intention doesn’t matter, their meaning has changed from the original intent. Simply put, these statues have to come down. You say it was 150 years ago, that it doesn’t matter. Will the Holocaust be treated the same way when all the survivors have died? We cannot afford to lose these voices, we cannot afford to lose their stories like we have lost the stories of past slaves. We can’t become desensitized to this and just sum up these hate crimes to an individual’s beliefs. The confederacy is not the pride of the south, it is the shame of the United States, and it should be treated as such.
Anonymous
“If that were true, we would have statues of the people who didn’t want slavery.”
We don’t have any statues of people that were against slavery? What about the Lincoln Monument?
Student
Let me rephrase that. The statues should be put up in place of the confederate statues. Because, you know. Racists aren’t good people. I never stated that there aren’t any statues of those who were against slavery.
Rachel
Great post, I was unaware that this sort of thing was going on
Michael
Your main point seems to be that the confederate statues weren’t put up to incite violence, but in all honesty, I’m not convinced that it matters what the intent was. If people read it as a sign of racism and violence, that’s the effect it will have. It may be ironic, that a warning can cause the very thing it’s trying to prevent, but in this situation it’s all too common.
Student
sorry you care so much about a statue built on racism my dude