Over the weekend I interjected a comment on a friend’s Facebook timeline. He had written that he was wondering about “the objective standard for taking down a statue of someone?” and “How far short of perfection are we willing to go in honoring an individual?” This comes in the context of the current rioting and mob action against statues across the U.S. and even across the globe. In response I wrote,
This is no longer about the Civil War or slavery. It’s about erasing the touchstones of American history.
That got an immediate response from one of his friends which said, “I strongly disagree. This is still about slavery and the pain black Americans have walked through for 400 years.” It was written by a woman with a profile photo of a mixed-race couple; she is white, he is black. From what I can tell, they have two children.
I declined to take up the argument with her, although there are factual inaccuracies with her comment. I don’t know her history or experience, nor her husband’s or children’s experiences. She has her reasons for strongly disagreeing and I respect that.
However, I stand by my comment. The “protesting” has gone way beyond where it started, which was with the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis at the end of May. We all agreed that it was a case of police brutality; we all agreed that the officer should face charges; we all agreed that changes were necessary to challenge how police unions protect dirty cops.
Yet the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing escalated overnight to rioting, looting and arson, and then to the vandalism, defacement, and destruction of statues and memorials with a clamor to change the names of parks, streets, schools, towns and military bases and the sudden rush to remove anything deemed racist on the products we buy.
Having started down that road, where is the line, as my friend wonders? Is there a limiting principle?
To get a sense of what I’m driving at, let’s look at a list of just individuals and groups honored by statues that have been targets of destruction, vandalism or defacement in the last three weeks.*
- George Washington, Commanding General who led the war for independence, our first president, and Father of Our Country
- Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States
- Abigail Adams, wife of Founding Father John Adams and opponent of slavery
- Caesar Rodney, Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence
- General Philip Schuyler, member of the Continental Congress and father-in-law of Alexander Hamilton
- General Kosciuszko, Polish national hero and colonel in the Continental Army
- General Casimir Pulaski, who fought for American independence
- The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution in Philadelphia
- French monarch Louis XVI
- Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States who held the Union together, freed the slaves in the South, and was known as The Great Emancipator
- Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States and Commanding General who led the Union Army during the Civil War
- 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the first-ever all-black unit in the Union Army
- Matthias Baldwin, a prominent American abolitionist
- Adm. David Farragut, flag officer of the United States Navy during the Civil War; remembered for his order to “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”
- Gen. George Thomas, Union general during the Civil War and one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater
- Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of Confederate troops during the Civil War
- Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War
- Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner”
- Pioneer Father and Pioneer Mother at University of Oregon
- Texas Ranger Jay Banks
- World War I memorials in several locations
- World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.
- Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish people during the Holocaust
- Nile Kinnick, 1939 Heisman Trophy winner and casualty of World War II
- Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, three lynched black men
- The “Waiting” Statue in Harrisburg
- Christopher Columbus, the adventurer and explorer generally credited with discovering the Americas
- Gandhi statues in New York City, Washington D.C., and London
- Don Juan de Onate, Spanish conquistador
- St. John the Evangelist statue beheaded and arms chopped off
- Colorado Soldiers Monument
- Ponce De Leon in Miami
- St. Junipero Serra, early Spanish missionary
- Memorials to fallen police officers vandalized in multiple cities
Every one of these statues or memorials have been vandalized. Gen. Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis—I can understand the animosity toward them as representatives of the pro-slavery South. But Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed the slaves? Gen. Grant, who led the forces that defeated the South? Matthias Baldwin, abolitionist? Francis Scott Key, author of our national anthem? Columbus? Gandhi? Three black men lynched in Deluth, Minnesota? How do these make sense?
What unifies the hostility toward pro-slavery activists, anti-slavery forces, early explorers, religious historical figures and armies that defeated fascism, is the conquest of North America by white Europeans and the creation of the United States of America. As near as I can tell, the limiting principle is the absence of any association with slavery which, in effect, means that there is no limiting principle. Why?
Because BLM, Antifa and the progressive Left believe that the whole enterprise is corrupt because it led to the exploitation of indigenous peoples and the institution of slavery in the United States. They hate America and want to do away with all of it, to expunging from the record any trace of what they believe to be a past thoroughly soaked in white supremacy and racism.
It started with demonstrations and protests. It morphed into riots. It’s moved onto symbols that memorialize our history: statues, images, flags and names. But it won’t stop there.
It will move on to books, movies and organizations that perpetuate or normalize the sins of the fathers. After that, it will move on to the living individuals who still cherish our country: professors, researchers, writers, historians, ministers and politicians. And then it will come for the average patriotic American when there are no more thought leaders or authorities to stand for us. That’s the way all fascist movements evolve.
Tearing down statues isn’t about 400 years of slavery and oppression, although it’s not less than that. It’s about the end of America.
* Sources: