One of the newest malfunctions of the current BLM movement is the destroying of our history. Across many areas of the country people are tearing down monuments of our past leaders and villains. Yes some of these statues are of the losers of our battles and some did some pretty bad things in our nation. However, they were part of our history. A history that we need to keep in order to continue to remember and learn.
What is there to learn from a statue of Robert E. Lee? Washington was a slave owner, why should we have a monument for him or Jefferson?
Yes we do. While George Washington was a slave owner, with out him we wouldn’t even be a country today. He leader an army that was greatly out powered and numbers to victory over the British. Then 10 years or so later he became the first American President that almost collapsed during his tenure. It was growing pains of a new country that had no army and no money.
Jefferson also was a slave owner. He also was the father of the Constitution. He was also the third president of the country. Once again, he was not a perfect person but someone that we need to remember as a founding father of the country.
General Lee while he fought against the country for the Confederate Army, he was also a person that helped keep the US safe during numerous of battles before the Civil War. You see he was a General in the US Army long before he choose to fight for his state. Lincoln actual asked him to leader the Union Army before Lee went south.
Of course you are also seeing the statues of Columbus being torn down too. I know many blame him for the new world taking over the Americas and killing many thousands of Native Americans. However, he did sail this way and found the islands of the America’s and not the main land. But why should we forget him?
The point is, this is our history and how we got here. No it wasn’t always pretty, but tearing them down will hide the good and the bad parts of us. It will allow people to forget our past and really from what I can see, repeat it all over again.
But if you are still wanting to tear apart the nations histories, don’t forget to tear apart all cultures and races history in America. Don’t forget about ripping the black slave owners history that you can find in the south. Go down to South Carolina and tear down any part s of it that remember William Ellison (https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/6699). Or to Mississippi and rip apart William Johnson’s House in Natchez (http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/identity/text4/williamjohnsondiary.pdf) You see this is part of our history also.
Lastly I will say that tearing down the monuments and status is straight out of the Taliban and ISSI play book for controlling a populace. Remove all forms of history that may interfere with the notion of a culture that could be or was better than the one you want. Hide any possibilities of other walking a different line. We may not have been a perfect path to where we are today, but it is our nation.
News Links:
Boston Removes Christopher Columbus Statue From North End Park
Pelosi wants 11 Confederate statues removed from Capitol
CNN’s Angela Rye: Washington, Jefferson Statues “Need To Come Down”
