A long overdue reckoning is now occurring concerning the appropriateness of having monuments to individuals who fought on the side of the Confederacy and naming military bases after them. Supporters of these monuments ask, where will this reckoning stop? Will we eventually be taking down monuments to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because they owned slaves and committed other misdeeds? This line of reasoning misses an important point.
While it can be argued that individuals who owned slaves or committed other misdeeds should not have monuments erected to them, that is not the primary reason why Confederate monuments need to come down. Individuals who fought on the side of the Confederacy committed treason against the United States, and it was the worse form of treason; they took up arms , rebelled, and killed United States servicemen.
What general in history is responsible for more deaths of U.S. soldiers than any other? It is not John Burgoyne or Charles Cornwallis of the British Army. It is not Santa Anna of Mexico. It is not Paul von Hindenburg, Erich Ludendorf, or Erwin Rommel of the German Army. It is not Isoroku Yamamoto of the Japanese Army. It is not Vo Nguyen Giap of the North Vietnamese Army. It is Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The country was so outraged at Lee for his betrayal that his plantation near Washington was confiscated by the U.S. government during the Civil War and converted to a cemetery (now Arlington National Cemetery) for the burial of U.S. soldiers. And yet monuments to Lee stand in this country.
Confederate monuments were largely erected during the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, and 1950’s as southern whites regained power and moved to rewrite history to portray these individuals as heroes. It was also done in response to movements to protect and expand the rights of blacks. Veterans of the Union Army, who fought against the Confederacy and saw their comrades killed and wounded, would be mortified to see monuments erected to honor the Confederate cause.
It is also ironic to note that many of the individuals who oppose taking down Confederate monuments, like President Trump, also speak out against athletes today who kneel during the National Anthem to bring attention to racism, discrimination, and police brutality towards minorities. Opponents of players kneeling contend that kneeling during the National Anthem disrespects the American flag.
When and where in history were the most American flags disrespected, desecrated, and burned? It was not when the British army invaded and occupied Washington in 1812. It was not when the Japanese army overran American territory and bases in the Pacific during World War II. It was not during the Black Power movement in the 1960’s. It was not during the protests against the Vietnam War. It was not during the Iranian protests and takeover of the American embassy in the 1970’s. Almost certainly, it was in the spring of 1861 when Southern states began seceding from the Union, taking down American flags and destroying them. And yet supporters of Confederate monuments, monuments to individuals who supported and advocated the removal and destruction of American flags, condemn athletes today who simply kneel during the National Anthem because, in the minds of the supporters of the monuments, it disrespects the flag.
Certainly there needs to be a discussion of how to deal with the inappropriate, unethical actions of individuals who did things like owning slaves, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who we otherwise hold in high regard. Whether monuments to them should come down can be discussed. Perhaps plaques recognizing the wrongness of some their actions need to be attached to the monuments. Again, this discussion needs to be had.
However, regardless of the wrongs that many honored historical figures in our country’s past may have committed, and as egregious as those acts may have been, none of them rise to the level of treason and the killing of United States soldiers. Our first order of business must be to take down Confederate monuments and rename military bases. We can then discuss what other actions we need to take as a nation to have a broader recognition of the roles important historical figures played in our past, and to better define who we are as a nation and as a people.
How do you feel about the removal of Confederate monuments and the renaming of military bases? What about the removal of other monuments? Please comment below.
Thanks for this post. The reckoning with Confederate monuments is long overdue, and it will give us an opportunity to stop whitewashing the historic context in which they were installed. The Civil War was fought over slavery. It was the aggrieved descendants of slaveholders and their fellow racists who insisted on installing such monuments to treason. Only after the war did the surviving Confederate leaders install into American memory the idea that the Civil War was about “states rights” (rights to do what, exactly?) and other more ethereal reasons.
It has only been about 150 years since Americans had the “right” to own other humans. This should horrify and appall us, and should be a source of national conversation over its shame and mitigating its continuing effects on African Americans today.
There is no other vanquished nation whose emblems appear as normalized statues and monuments in our country. Can you imagine monuments to British generals, Nazi generals, Japanese generals, on our public lands? Flying their flags over our nation? Yet, still today, some Americans argue that the treason of certain states — treason committed in an effort to preserve the brutal enslavement of other people — should be rewarded, recognized, and even honored in the bronze-cast forms of their generals.
We should talk about and understand history. We should write about history. We should teach history in classrooms, homes, museums, and landscapes. We should not (literally) place traitors and abusers on a pedestal as a point of honor.
Yes, you are exactly right. A major reason Confederate monuments were ever put up was to try to re-write history. Defenders of the monuments conveniently ignore this fact and, ironically, accuse those who want to take them down of trying to rewrite history.