Hard Truths
Before the tires screamed in Charlottesville, many Americans were deeply troubled by the images of white men, holding torches against the night, chanting, “You will not remove us.” “Jew will not remove us.” These are images we had hoped belonged to a distant, bloody past. Now it is clear. They intend to seize the future, returning the country to its worst, most violent, and vicious days.
The people gathered at the Unite the Right March came to protest the decision by the city of Charlottesville to remove a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee. This decision, prompted by a petition circulated by an African-American high school student, is part of a larger effort by people to rethink our history and what values we represent in public life.
Over the last few months, several cities have engaged in fierce debates about the past and future. In St. Louis, after intense controversy, workers removed a Confederate monument from Forest Park in June. In Frederick, Md., a bust of Roger B. Taney, the chief justice of the United States who wrote the notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision denying the humanity of African Americans, was removed in May from its spot near City Hall. In New Orleans, four Confederate statues were taken down, the last under the dark of night, because of the intensity of the protests.
In each case, the majority of the people in these cities struggled with hard questions about white supremacy, racism, and whose lives matter. In each case, the majority of people agreed that public monuments to the confederacy should go. They are not who we are or who we want to represent us. They are not who we want to shape our future.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave a moving, thoughtful speech about the decision to take down these statues. He said:
First erected over 166 years after the founding of our city and 19 years after the end of the Civil War, the monuments that we took down were meant to rebrand the history of our city and the ideals of a defeated Confederacy.
It is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America, They fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this cause, they were not patriots.
These statues are not just stone and metal. They are not just innocent remembrances of a benign history. These monuments purposefully celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy; ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, and the terror that it actually stood for.
After the Civil War, these statues were a part of that terrorism as much as a burning cross on someone’s lawn; they were erected purposefully to send a strong message to all who walked in their shadows about who was still in charge in this city.
Standing in public squares and parks across our country, these monuments are themselves the product of a white supremacist movement that emerged during the First Reconstruction. Calling themselves The Cult of the Lost Cause, defeated defenders of slavery had one goal, in Landrieu’s words, “Through monuments and through other means — to rewrite history to hide the truth, which is that the Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity.”
There is no question that the forces that sought violence in Charlottesville have always been with us. The KKK, the American Nazi Party, the Christian Identity Movement, Birchers, and Militias have consistently organized to stop the efforts of people to move toward justice and peace. They depend on violence and fear.
There is also no question that the election of Donald Trump has given them renewed energy and license to accelerate their efforts. He has supported and encouraged their violence.
But these forces go far beyond the likes of Trump. And they are being engaged and defeated around the country. The people of Charlottesville, New Orleans, St. Louis, Fredrick, and all the other towns and villages who have gathered together and decided to consciously work toward a better future, offer all of us a glimpse of the ways forward.
Yes, we must condemn the violence of the KKK, Nazis and neo-fascists. Yes, we must resist the white supremacist, at every turn. But fundamentally, we must do this by turning to each other and facing the hard truths of our history. There is no other way to construct our futures.