Why Now?
Time for Conversation – Not Confrontation!
Robert E. Lee statue
In wake of the events that recently happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, and all around the Country we want to give our views on the matter of defacing and removing statues of Confederate Generals that have been around for over 100 years.
Why were these individuals demanding that these statues be torn down not insulted 50 years ago?? 25 years ago??? 10 years ago??? 10 months ago??? 1 month ago??? Why now??? What is the reason why these statues are suddenly so offensive?
A lot of people on both sides of the political spectrum were upset when Trump got elected President. Some still are upset. Many who supported him are now against him. Some people blame Trump as an excuse to deface and destroy statues.
Do any of these protestors even know what they are talking about or anything about the Civil War?
Listening to these different organizations and their representatives their argument is simple: these men fought for slavery; slavery is evil – we want these statues down. But things are not that simple.
Let’s talk a little about the Civil War. The Civil War was referred to in the South as the War of Northern Aggression. There were good men on both sides. Most of the Officers who fought during the Civil War knew each other, many of which went to West Point and graduated together. Many Northern Officers were best friends with Southern Officers. There were families who had brothers that were divided on their allegiances. These men accepted their command positions because they were soldiers, and they did what they believed was right.
Robert E. Lee was one of the most accomplished leaders in the American Army. He was President Abraham Lincoln’s first choice to be Commander of the Union Forces. Lee declined because he felt in his heart that he could not betray his home State of Virginia.
During the war, when the Irish Brigade of the Southern Forces stood over the field of Fredericksburg, Union Forces were approaching. Lee sat down and spoke to Stonewall Jackson before the battle, “This is where I met my wife. These fields supplied the starving Irish during the Potato Famine with food. We sent them corn. This is Fredericksburg, and we want to protect our land and our heritage.”
Although a slave owner, Lee believed slavery was wrong. Slaves had little to do with Lee’s life. After the war, his plantation became Arlington National Cemetery.
When his church became integrated, a black man knelt at the railing for communion and no one came near him. A grey-haired man came up from the rear of the church and knelt beside him. It was Robert E. Lee.
Stonewall Jackson was not a slave owner. He was a teacher at Virginia Military Academy and a very religious man. He fought for the Confederacy since he was from the South and a soldier.
Okay, so you knocked down a statue. What did this accomplish? Attacking people and destroying property is a crime. Those committing these crimes should be arrested. You’ve even get some people who mistakenly defaced or vandalized the wrong statues – dumbbells! Maybe they should read the inscriptions first.
People forget that the first thing that the Taliban did when they took over Afghanistan was to destroy all the religious statues. Sound familiar?
Worse of all are the politicians and leaders from other professions who are jumping into the fray. How is this helping your constituents? Are you providing healthcare, increasing jobs, or helping national security? What about our nation’s infrastructure? Last time we checked, the trains, roads and bridges are in dire need of repair. Taxpayers’ dollars are paying your salary. Shouldn’t you be focusing on more constructive matters than destroying our history?
Presently in Chicago there are certain individuals who want to change the names of parks and remove some statues. Aren’t there more important matters to attend to? What about the over 4,000 people who have been murdered in the city since 2009. Unfortunately most of these murders are gang related. So far in 2017, 439 people have been murdered in Chicago.
Yet, many individuals would rather concentrate on destroying statues that a lot of people probably walked by and never even read the inscriptions on them. Do you think these generals will rise from the dead and start a Civil War now?
There has been a lot of hostility towards police lately. Many accuse certain police officers as being racist and many police officers are targets for attacks. The police are here to serve and protect the public, not get objects thrown at them or get shot at. Some people even argue that the police are outfitted with equipment that is more geared up for combat. If I were a police chief and saw some of the objects that were hurled at my officers, you better believe I’d have them outfitted in full armor and equipped with heavy artillery so they can perform their duties safely while protecting you. Police should not be targets. Hopefully the increased use of bodycams will solve many of these disputes.
There’s a lot of people that go around and don’t even think about other parts of the country where people are being destructive. You know why? Because they’re trying to decide where their next meal is coming from or where they’re going to sleep. Will they have a roof over their head? How will they be able to divvy up their medicine? Or how to get one of their loved ones off drugs which has destroyed many families and running ramped throughout the country.
We also have a little problem with Kim Jong-un, Leader of North Korea who has vowed to wreak havoc on America starting with Guam. He’s still testing nuclear missiles.
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his supporters were going to go march with the sanitation workers, it was two-fold. Many politicians and law enforcement officers were members of the Klan. The last thing that was on Dr. King’s and his supporters’ minds were Civil War statues. The first day of the march there was some violence, but Dr. King had none of that, and said that the next day there will be a peaceful march. Unfortunately, Dr. King was assassinated before the second march took place.
Nowadays it seems lately it’s a prerequisite to march for a cause, you must have a course on how to be violent. It seems that people would rather have conflicts instead of trying to have a conversation with someone that they don’t agree with. What happened to listening to the opposing point of view? What happened to the loyal opposition?
What’s even more pathetic is that the MTA is more concerned about replacing tiles that they thought might be offensive to people because they think the design too closely resembles a Confederate Flag. I think they should be more concerned about the rat infestation that is a health threat to the people who, by the way pay their salary.
Daryl Davis is a Black American R&B and blues musician, author, actor, and band leader who has gotten over 200 Klan Members to denounce their ways through his friendship with them. There’s a lesson to be learned here.
Oprah Winfrey, whom I believe is one of the smartest women because she knows how to use her TV show to give people who she may not agree with a chance to give their views. On one show we recommend is when she had a panel of 4 which included skinheads and KKK members on why they did not like black people. After the show, she was upset and vowed never to give a voice to those people again. But several years later, she was pleasantly surprised when two of those people came back to apologize and to say how ashamed they were for their beliefs. One of the ex-skinheads said shortly after that show, he was arrested, jailed and was assigned to a work crew that was all black. Even the jailer was black. Even though they knew he was a skinhead because of all of his tattoos proclaiming this, they did not hold this against him. Because of the way they treated him in spite of his history, it gave him respect for black people and their willingness to give him a chance.
When one of the ex-skinheads came back to tell his story, he began to choke up and start crying. Sometimes when you look at yourself from the outside, you see things that you didn’t before and have an epiphany.
Another Oprah show had the Little Rock 9 (Black Students) who integrated a school in Arkansas in 1957. In 1996 on Oprah, the Little Rock 9 appeared along with their former tormentors of 40 years ago. Now all adults, those tormentors apologized to the Little Rock 9 for their behavior when they were young. They explained their unacceptable behavior and how they just followed what everyone else was doing without giving it much thought. One of the former tormentors came on stage and started to cry and began to hug each member of the Little Rock 9 that was present.
What will this world be 20 years from now if things proceed as they are? Will it be Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 where all books are burned because everything is offensive to everyone? Or George Orwell’s 1984 where history is constantly being rewritten and freedom is just an illusion?
It’s time that we start listening to each other. Enough of the mob mentality and the confrontations which are getting us nowhere. The time is now to put hatred aside and have a face to face conversation with all sides
We’d love to have a roundtable discussion with all sides represented. It could be videotaped and shown on YouTube. We just need the participants who will follow the rules that will be set in place. So are you in?
To quote the well-known philosopher Confucius. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Will you make the first step? C.M. & K.M.
