Do Statues Matter?

 

This week, in Charlottesville VA, the city removed from public display statues of Confederate Generals Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Another statue of explorers Lewis & Clark with the Native American guide, Sacajawea, was also taken down. The statue, including Sacajawea, was questioned, as it seemed to show her as subservient, which was not acceptable to some Native Americans.

If you remember, the potential removal of Confederate statues was part of the protests in the weekend of rage and the “Unite the Right” protest by armed torch-carrying White Power sympathizers, neo-Nazis, and other right-wing extremists a few years ago in Charlottesville. The protests and counter-protest resulted in the death of a demonstrator against the marchers by one of the white supremacists. At that time, the then-president made his infamous remark that there were good people on both sides of the protests that day. He was so wrong.

The city of Charlottesville is a Virginia city, one solidly in the South and near many battlefields of the Civil War, so a statue of Robert E Lee would not be unusual there. The city is not far from Monticello, the home of that famous Virginian and President, Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. However, the university draws many people to its campus both from Virginia and beyond. What does the symbol of a General who was a traitor to his country mean to those who come to study in Charlottesville? Some will say that he was important to the Southern cause, so his statue should have remained. Others can claim that he fought to preserve slavery, which was not a noble cause, so his memory should not be honored.

So what purpose is served by keeping Confederate monuments, statues, and namesake buildings in the public eye? To some, it perpetuates a myth, the preservation of the genteel Southern plantation way of life, which only served a few. This way of thinking omits the inconvenient truth that slavery was a horrible way of life and perpetuated an inhumane practice, which much of the civilized world then had already disowned. The beliefs that the war was fought for states’ rights or to maintain an agrarian economy are additional myths often presented. The truth remains that the South would have had no economic output without slavery and could not have effectively operated as a separate nation even with help from abroad. Continuing to display statues from this era are daily insults to all black American descendants of those enslaved people.

There is a psychological principle called approach-avoidance, which addresses the positive and negative aspects of an act. For example, I might wish to avoid an intersection where I had been involved in a car accident, but if I am in a hurry, and that route is the fastest one to take, I drive through that crossroad, but not happily. In the same manner of thinking, students attending the university might not wish to see Confederate flags or statues on their way to class and may try to avoid what to them are memories of unpleasant times, even if it means a longer walk to class. Why would a university or other entity subject its' consumers to continued indignity? For reasons such as this, I think it is time now to remove these monuments. Why would we, as a society, wish to celebrate and honor those who fought against our country to continue a system which promoted ownership of other humans?

Of course, Confederate symbols are not the only ones we see; there are the years’ long battles to remove the Washington “Redskins” Cleveland “Indians” and Atlanta “Braves” names for sports teams. I think the habit of the “tomahawk chop” has finally been dismissed, although I am uncertain. So far, the Washington team is essentially nameless, now that it has removed their symbol and is known only as the Washington Football Team. Surely, they could have come up with something in a year, but they haven’t. To many Native Americans, these names were onerous; however, their protests were ignored for many years. These names did not honor tribal people, despite the feathered headgear and other regalia worn. Consider for a moment - would you accept a team called the ‘white-skins’ or ‘yellow-skins’ – I think not.

Other symbols of course include the American Flag, the Liberty Bell, or the Red Cross. I think these are ones that most of us can stand behind as having meaning to most Americans. What is important is that they do not have the purpose of demeaning others. So, since symbols stand for something, it is up to us to support those supporting  the better parts of our history. I think it is correct that most southern states have now reworked their flags and removed the stars and bars where they had been present.

Speaking of history, we know that a lot of our history is mythologized, and in Texas this week, that fact was borne out when historians were meeting to discuss the actual history behind the Texas monument of The Alamo. You probably have heard the story of Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie and the others bravely defending the honor of Texas (which was not a state at that time); well, it wasn’t quite that way. White settlers in the Mexican territory wanted to preserve the land as a new territory that permitted slavery, even though Mexico had outlawed slavery years before. That set up a separatist movement and led to battles between the US and Mexico. Though the state of Texas has preserved the site as a monument to the Confederacy, it was not that way in 1836. Recently Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick canceled an author talk about the Alamo scheduled on state museum property. The book titled “Forget the Alamo” written by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford presented an alternative to the popular myth and discussed the continuance of slavery as one of the incentives at that time. Patrick disagreed with the author and denied him a platform, maintaining that the history of 1836 shall not be besmirched. Some stated that Patricks’ actions run counter to the First Amendment as he used his power to squelch a discussion with which he disagreed. Only in Texas, as they say!

Well, also in Texas, the Governor called the legislature back into session in a second attempt to pass the restrictive voting laws which were stymied in the previous session when the Democratic caucus walked out, preventing a quorum. Democrats are still trying to stall, as many of the restrictions are aimed at voting practices in the urban centers which are Democratic strongholds. There are also questionable efforts to influence after the vote ballot counting. Democrats are also organizing mass protests which look to increase over the next few days.

This week has also seen the assassination of the Haitian President by mercenaries said to be Columbians and Haitian Americans. Even though the President had been unpopular, the question remains, who hired the assassins? There is much jockeying for power in this unstable and poor nation.

And today, Cubans protested dire economic straits and hunger with marches in the streets. The country has suffered a severe downturn, instability, and increasing poverty due to the lack of tourism and the pandemic. Income inequality is also widening. Who knows what will happen next as the police are cracking down?

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The Delta variant of the COVID vaccine – the one which caused so many deaths in India – now accounts for over 50% of US cases and is spreading across the country, especially in states with low vaccination rates. Southern Missouri and Mississippi are two of the states with increasing problems, although Los Angeles and New York City are also seeing case-loads again rise. Some cities are re-instituting masks for indoor places. CDC has reported that 99.5% of all recent deaths are from unvaccinated people. Unfortunately, the world has now tallied over 3 million COVID-related deaths.

COVID stats – NY Times (new deaths are the fewest since March 2020.)

US totals – Total Cases: 33,818,301. New Cases: 19,032. Total Deaths: 606,316 New Deaths: 223.

MD totals: Total cases: 463,107. New cases: 127. Total Deaths: 9,762. New Deaths 1.

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Marylands’ Governor Hogan has joined the chorus of Republican governors who continue to insist that state workers do not need the extra unemployment benefit of $300.00 which is due to run through September. His curtailing of this benefit has been temporarily halted by a judge after appeals and will be revisited this week. The Democratic legislators are calling this move short-sighted as many people cannot return to work until daycare sites reopen. The Governor claims they are just too lazy to work. The stand-off will continue – at least a few more days.

I think there are now seven candidates running for Governor in the Democratic Primary set for next June. In Frederick County, the State Republican delegate who was active at the Capitol Insurrection in January has announced he is running for Governor – that makes three candidates on that side. This promises to be an interesting year on the political scene

“Til next week – Peace!