April 4th, 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. The pain of this day should be felt around the country and around the world, but especially here in Memphis, the place that took MLK's life. In preparation for this day throughout Memphis, the Memphis City Council voted in December of 2017 to have several Confederate monuments and statues removed from parks throughout the city. One statue was of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was both a Confederate general and one of the beginning members of the KKK. The other was Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy while the Civil War was going on. The removal of these statues come after both this commemoration of MLK's death as well as a national discussion on the removal of Confederate statues across many southern states, not just Tennessee. My brother was able to be in the crowd in downtown Columbia, South Carolina when the nation blew up over the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds in the summer of 2015, where he witnessed both uproar and celebration of the flag being removed. As Connolly and Wang discuss in an article, does the removal of these reminders of the Confederacy mean the deliberate "erasure of history or a righting of past wrongs"[1]. Is it our responsibility to keep the statues and monuments up, acting as scars for us to remember, allowing us to grow from our past? Or is it more of our job to rid the world of these things that celebrate such a time that we, as a country, are not proud of?
I grew up in a small town in South Carolina, where I drove by trailers and cotton fields on my way to school each morning. I went to a predominately white school where I was the odd one out for not going to church every Sunday and to the Country Club for cotillion each week. When I moved to Memphis, I realized that everyone has a very specific stereotype about people from South Carolina and states like it, and I hated being thought of as a redneck, racist kid that grew up in the Bible belt. Sure, people just like that exist and maybe in numbers that I am not proud to claim. But, I don't think proudly flaunting monuments and statues and names of Confederate generals is going to help break that stereotype. The Confederacy is not getting erased from history- that would be too easy. There will always be the guilt of what was done to black people in the south starting in 1619. There will always be textbooks and books to show that. Yet, the monuments must come down. Those, to me, represent a symbol of pride and respect that I don't think they deserve. People put monuments and statues in Washington and across the world for people to visit. The people represented there all stand for something we are proud of as a country, and I don't think that can be said of the statues that still cover the south.
In high school, one of the schools in our league was "Robert E. Lee Academy." Think about that. Decades after the civil war, and there are still kids proud to say that they go to a school named after a man that led armies into battle with ideas of keeping white supremacy and segregation in the south after the war. I think its an interesting debate when it comes to the benefits and problems of taking down monuments of the Civil War and the Confederacy. Perhaps I take too selfish of a stance in wanting the stereotypes to be taken away as if they are painted on the statues of each Confederate monument. Does removing these statues just show glorified attempts at erasing a history and creating even more of a master narrative for the United States?
[1] Connolly, Daniel, and Wang, Vivian. "Confederate Statues in Memphis Are Removed After City Council Vote." The New York Times. December 2017.
MLK in context - an exploration of King's life and work from an historical perspective
I Agree, the monuments should come down. As much as they are scars from America's past, the removal of them represent a greater cause. Our history will never be erased. The removal of these statues and monuments pay respect to people who built this nation off of their hard labor and discipline. To people who had to struggle to even be noticed as a person. What the confederate flag stands for is not what america says they are about (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). Taking these flags down will not only pay homage but add a progressive feel to this nation this is now going backwards in its efforts of equality. The scars and guilt of that time will always be taught. Taking these monuments down that support racism and slavery will add to the master narrative by contributing to the post-racial america era.
ReplyDeleteThe monuments definitely need to come down. A monument is a way of praising and commemorating ones achievements. Why commemorate someone for the awful things that they have done? Especially when people are commemorated for having awful racial ideologies. Taking these monuments down sets the stage for a better future. History will not be erased it will just show these citizens in a different light.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lillian that monuments praise those who have commendable accomplishments, and statues of Confederate generals should be removed from public areas. Instead of destroying the statues, I think they should be collected and placed in a museum, so they can be used as a teaching point. It is critical that we do not forget history and repeat past mistakes.
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