![\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AStoneMountain.jpg;](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/08\/800px-StoneMountain.jpg\")
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On the one hand, we have \u201cmonument fever\u201d \u2014 with an endless array of, not just people, but groups, getting monuments in our public places. \u00a0Will future generations feel the need to clean up the National Mall, in order to memorialize heroes of future civic or military battles?<\/p>\n
On the other hand, we\u2019re engaged in a process of clean-up now, getting rid of monuments to people who we conclude weren\u2019t that heroic after all.<\/p>\n
On the third hand, when ISIS and the Tailban got rid of monuments that they didn\u2019t like, we got outraged. \u00a0Is the difference that our \u201cbad monuments\u201d are not old enough to have historical significance?<\/p>\n
On the fourth hand, we cheered when statues of dictators were toppled in the Soviet Union and Iraq, and will likely do so again, if someday the Kims lose their hold on North Korea.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the purpose of a monument? And when does it become a \u201chistoric site\u201d which should be preserved whether we like it or not?<\/p>\n
It seems like an easy call that monuments to military generals and politicians in the Confederacy should go. \u00a0From Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis to Stonewall Jackson, they supported a rebellion against the United States whose very purpose was the preservation of slavery, much as it was later idealized as a states\u2019 rights and independence movement.<\/p>\n
Of course, this shouldn\u2019t be a matter of private individuals, vandals, taking the matter into their own hands, nor of the federal government mandating this, but each local government body should feel free, in a democratic manner, to make that decision for themselves.<\/p>\n
As much as the rallying cry of those upset at this turn of events is that these are a part of our history, a monument placed in a city park is not the same thing as a historical site. \u00a0Monuments should serve the people, not be fixed and frozen in time.<\/p>\n
But there are three complicating factors.<\/p>\n
In the first place, we need some kind of standard that differentiates between anyone with a complicated legacy, and those individuals whose primary \u201cclaim to fame\u201d is\u00a0directly and concretely associated with slavery or other Bad Things.<\/p>\n
Washington, after all, was a slaveowner, as was Jefferson. \u00a0To a certain degree, it\u2019s my understanding that they themselves understood that there was a conflict between their pursuit of liberty and the system of slavery, but were unwilling to break with something that was so ingrained in their way of life at that point. \u00a0It seems like common sense to say that only those men who specifically worked to preserve the slave system lose their places of honor \u2014 but students at places like Yale<\/a> and Princeton<\/a> have rejected this differentiation as they demand that any building named for anyone connected with slavery be renamed (though bloggers claim that students are hypocritical in not asking for Yale to rename itself \u2014 since its namesake was a slave trader<\/a> \u2014 lest they lose the \u201cYale\u201d cachet).<\/p>\n Second, there are some sites where the \u201cmonuments should serve the people\u201d formulation doesn\u2019t work as well, because they have become historical sites in their own right. \u00a0Chief among these is Stone Mountain, in Georgia, of which Wikipedia says,<\/p>\n Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet (514 m) MSL and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous rock relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. The carving depicts three Confederate figures during the Civil War: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The carving was done in fits and starts from 1916 \u2013 1972; the mountain itself was owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy until 1958, at which time it was deeded to the state of Georgia.<\/p>\n And, in the context of all the calls for the removal of any sort of Confederate monument, there are similar calls now<\/a> for this carving to be sandblasted. \u00a0Given that Teddy Roosevelt is the object of protests<\/a> vilifying him as a \u201cwhite supremacist,\u201d a blanket \u201cdestroy all monuments of Bad People\u201d dictum would involve dynamiting Mount Rushmore as well.<\/p>\n Finally, we should address the\u00a0\u201ckeep the monuments\u201d claims\u00a0that these are a part of Southern\u00a0heritage, and that Southerners want to remember these people has having at least attempted to fight for independence. \u00a0They may be flat-out wrong, but is it really appropriate, and pragmatic, to run roughshod over them? \u00a0The rallying cry of \u201cwhite nationalists\u201d is that they want to have \u201cwhite pride\u201d and I imagine that their message becomes much more appealing to young people, when they\u2019re told that their ancestors were racist, had no redeeming qualities, and that their \u201cheritage\u201d contains nothing of value and should produce only shame\u00a0and repentance. \u00a0Could at least some of those statues be replaced, not universally with Civil Rights icons, but with local men and women known for music and the arts, literature, science, or community service, from any time period, not just the 1960s?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Image: \u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AStoneMountain.jpg; By KyleAndMelissa22 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the one hand, we have \u201cmonument fever\u201d \u2014 with an endless array of, not just people, but groups, getting monuments in our public places. \u00a0Will future generations feel the need to clean up the National Mall, in order to memorialize heroes of future civic or military battles? On the other hand, we\u2019re engaged in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":7166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n