The crane and heavy straps that removed the 16 foot bronze statue of General Robert E. Lee ensures the South will never rise again. General Lee, which this author had always assumed was an orange 1969 Dodge Charger, had been perched atop a 60 foot tall pedestal in the aptly named Lee Circle, but will now reside in a warehouse alongside three other New Orleans monuments commemorating the Confederacy.
When asked to comment on the removal of the monument by Shortcuts correspondent Ajit Matharu, local historian Wilkins P. Gadfly said, “How did they get it up there in the first place?”
After several long moments, Matharu asked, “Are you asking me like you want me to tell you, or are you the kind of person who asks something and then answers his own question?”
“Whew!” Mr. Gadfly said, still watching in awe as Lee slowly descended to Earth. “Would you look at that. Golly!”
Previously removed monuments include a bronze statue of bassoon-enthusiast and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis; an obelisk dedicated to The Battle of Liberty Place, fought between the White League, a (surprise!) white supremacist group, and New Orleans coppers armed with only batons and whistles; and a statue of Confederacy General P.G.T. Beauregard, affectionately nicknamed “Pigshit” by the soldiers under his command.
Many New Orleans residents have vehemently protested this “white-washing,” stating that these monuments are of important historical and cultural significance. In an effort to appease those Southerners upset with the city’s decision to remove those monuments, new statues of notable New Orleanians will be erected. Those Nawlins natives include actor/director Tyler Perry, fitness guru Richard Simmons, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, and rapper Lil Wayne.
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The preservation of hallowed ground where soldiers on both sides were killed, along with the memorializing of the men who fought for the Union and the end of slavery, deserves as much deference and latitude as we can generously provide. On the other hand, it’s impossible to see the wisdom in preserving monuments to the men who spent four years fighting like hell against the Constitution, against unity and in support of slavery. This isn’t to suggest we shouldn’t learn about the (real) Southern cause and the soldiers who fought for it, from Lee on down to the child recruits dragged into the latter days of the war. But Southern heritage and history can easily exist without deifying traitors and slave owners with outsized statues better suited for heroes rather than enemies of equality and the American republic.
The Lost Cause died a long time ago. It’s long past time to tear down its last remnants and rid ourselves of the hangover.
I agree. What the descendants of slaves, those who suffered under Jim Crow and endure racism today need is lip-service and superficial gestures. Now the healing can finally begin. The felling of century-old statues will correspond directly to the rising fortunes of blacks who have heretofore remained mired in poverty and the criminal justice system.
And to those who still carry a torch for Confederate “heroes and martyrs,” the “Lost Cause” and consider the removal of these monuments as an assault on culture and history, wherever they are out there: fuck you, too!
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The Nation has an article about University of Maryland student Sean Urbanski, who stabbed Bowie State University student Richard Collins III. Urbanski is white; Collins was black. Dave Zirin writes:
At around 3 am on Saturday, May 20, Collins waited for an Uber ride along with two friends who were students at UMD at an on-campus bus stop. Urbanski walked up to them, and, according to witnesses, said, ‘Step left, step left if you know what’s best for you.’ Collins simply replied, ‘No.’ He stood his ground. Urbanski then stabbed him in the chest and fled the scene. Collins died at the hospital…
Make no mistake about it—this was a lynching, a lynching committed by a UMD student…[Urbanski] is a homegrown terrorist who grew out of the soil of this college campus…
The UMD campus has seen racist chalkings, nooses, flyers, and threats since Donald Trump took office. And yes, one would have to be willingly obtuse to not see a direct line from having open white supremacists in the Oval Office to the emboldening of the perpetrators—not just at UMD but, according to NPR reporting, at campuses across the country.
As a word nerd, I can not accept someone trying to redefine words to make an emotional appeal to bolster an argument. A lynching is when a mob kills someone accused of a crime without waiting for justice through due process to be carried out. A terrorist is someone who commits a violent act against innocent citizens in furtherance of a political goal. Urbanski killed someone with a different skin color; that is racist violence, and is abhorrent enough without throwing in “lynching” and “terrorist.” Zirin’s fear-mongering through linguistic trickery is inappropriate and irresponsible because it will cause some of his readers to lose sight of what really happened and why.
Zirin’s claim that the election of Donald Trump enables racists to perpetrate and threaten violence is an insult to intelligence. If Trump, Steve Bannon, Mike Pence, et al. enable hate crimes, then does that mean Obama’s rhetoric prevented racists from carrying out hate crimes? Certainly not in the case of Dylann Roof.
Racism, threats, etc. did not take a vacation while Obama was president. Are we supposed to believe racists have just been biding their time, waiting for a president supposedly sympathetic to their ideology so that they can then perpetrate violence? And if so, why? Do they think they wouldn’t be punished under President Trump, that he would nod approvingly? I don’t recall Trump or anyone in his administration ever speaking words to the effect of, “Black people are inferior to white people, go ahead and kill them, who cares…”
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It is risible for writers to put forth ideas that the removal of monuments is anything more than busy work for city public works employees. The descendants of slaves are no better off, and those who protested the removals are no worse off. The money the city of New Orleans paid and will pay to take down and store those statues would be much better spent on lobbying for state-wide and federal tax, regulatory, and criminal justice reform. Removing symbols of the Civil War and slavery is an empty, and ultimately, lazy gesture that gives the impression to the descendants of slaves that government is doing something to alleviate their generational suffering.
It is also risible to say a national mood, rhetoric from a president, or emotion or energy, or whatever, compels a racist to act on his hatred, as well as state there is a “direct line” connecting the president to Urbanski, when they are so removed from each other. It’s like when liberals say “right wing hate” killed JFK, despite Lee Harvey Oswald being a Communist.
If I was Trump, I’d sue Zirin. Unlike suing a reporter for writing Trump exaggerates his personal wealth, this is an issue that matters, and he could actually win against Zirin for libel. It would be a public service for Trump to bring a defamation lawsuit against Zirin and The Nation, so as to give other writers and publications pause before running irresponsible articles that spread ignorance rather than truth (for those saying this would “chill free speech,” free speech laws don’t prevent damages from being sought against those who write slanderous articles).
If media and government want their credibility restored so the people have faith in them again, they need to address the real causes of social ills and stop drawing tangential threads that only serve to further political agendas and pre-written narratives.
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And that’s the way it is, as far as you know.
Composite: WILX
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General Lee himself admitted that he didn’t care much for slavery, but refused Lincoln’s offer to lead the Union army because he couldn’t ” raise (his) hand against (his) native state.” He fought for the rights of states and individuals vs the overreaching arm of federal government which is of course a war we are still fighting today.
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