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| Columbus monument, Madrid. |
Sometimes I despair at answering readers — what's the point? If they haven't figured it out by now, they never will. But often I can't help myself. And there is a value, for me if not for my correspondent, as I sometimes discover arguments and hone language by preaching to deaf ears.
Every single reader who wrote in disagreeing with Monday's column about censoring history did so with what they considered the same a-ha-gotcha! argument: what about those statues of Robert E. Lee, those Confederate flags, cancelled by anti-historical liberals?
Good point! Keep writing. Have to keep newspapers viable!
This, from Brian M., will stand in for all:
I hope that your Passover was a fulfilling one for you and your family. I enjoy your articlesI'd ignored others. But he was polite enough. And like Anne Frank, I like to think people are good at heart, so tried to help his reader by explaining the situation as clearly as I could. I replied:
Even when we don’t align in our thoughts.
Todays article on history I find interesting. You mention several times that basically history with all of its warts needs to be ‘out there’.
Why then is the Columbus statuaries still missing from our local landscape? Only the history that the liberal position must be saved?
Good question. Because statues aren't history — they're honor. Let me try to explain the difference. I would demand that Nazism be fully addressed in any 20th century high school history textbook. That does not mean I want a Nazi flag flying in front of the school. Do you see the difference?I did not expect an answer, but he surprised me.
That's a sincere question: do you?
Thanks for writing.
See? That alone is reason to keep communicating. "Good point" is not "Let's move boldly into the future together." But it's a start.
The thing about Lee is that it's a shame that his statues became associated with the haters and racists. Don't misunderstand me. Lee was a racist. Of course, the same could have been said about most whites including Lincoln. However, Lee deserves some respect in that he counseled the people of the South to return to their homes and be good citizens after the war. When he was asked by others on his staff to consider breaking up the Army of Northern Virginia and starting guerrilla warfare, he put an end to such talk immediately. He made the reunion of the United States much more likely thanks to his actions and words. The Civil War was refought in magazines and books for decades and that may ever be the case but at least it's being fought with words not bullets today and I think Lee deserves a degree of credit for that.
ReplyDeleteAnd Hitler built the autobahn. But I still don't want him on my postage stamps.
DeleteMr. Graf. My understanding was that most of the countries confederate statues did not start to appear until the civil rights era. Though I looked into this and it appears that I am wrong. Many were built during the turn of the century, however their erection was for the same reason as those that were built during the Civil Rights Era.
DeleteMost of their erections were done to purposely drum up support for the "white cause." They were never about remembrance or history, they have always been, and will always be, about white supremacy. A pure fallacy that the color of one's skin dictates that they are better then others.
In my research, I found it horrifying how many news organizations have hidden or removed their reports on confederate monuments. Thankfully, NPR has kept theirs up https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544266880/confederate-statues-were-built-to-further-a-white-supremacist-future
Gotta say, that's a pretty surprising comment coming from a reasonable guy like you, Mr. Graf.
Delete"it's a shame that his statues became associated with the haters and racists."
The statues weren't put up to celebrate his acquiescence in defeat, they were put up to promote the "lost cause," which is what he is overwhelmingly "associated with."
"Lee was a racist. Of course, the same could have been said about most whites including Lincoln." Hmmm... I don't believe that's a convincing argument. Lee was a traitor who is primarily revered by many for leading the attempt to establish a new country based on racism. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and is primarily known for saving the Union, which at least in theory is based on the premise that all men are created equal.
"Lee deserves a degree of credit" for his postwar efforts at reconciliation. I don't disagree with that. A full accounting of his life should include the good and the bad. But as NS notes, "statues aren't history — they're honor" and it's all too clear what his statues are meant to honor.
His Wikipedia entry includes this quote: "My own opinion is that, at this time, they [black Southerners] cannot vote intelligently, and that giving them the [vote] would lead to a great deal of demagogism, and lead to embarrassments in various ways." One can only wonder what he'd think of the amount of demagogism and embarrassment that have been facilitated by the MAGA voters of today.
Considering that we now know that Columbus was at least part Jewish from his DNA, I find the removal of his statues in Chicago to be anti-Semitic!
ReplyDeleteSatire doesn't convey itself well on the comments.
DeleteBut rumors do. Beware of media science. https://www.sciencealert.com/dna-reveals-surprise-twist-about-christopher-columbus
DeleteThanks for sharing this. An encouraging response! And your very good explanation of the distinction between monuments and history.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll offer an example I will never understand. I'm 73 and this has always baffled me. Why does Chicago continue honoring Italo Balbo? Can't we all get real about that one at least? The dude visited Chicago once. A little fly-in and meet-and-greet with coffee and danish. The Blue Angels and Red Baron Pizza aerobatic teams do that every summer and we don't name streets after them and build monuments. Forget his politics. Set his Facism aside. I can think of 10 or 15 Chicagoans more deserving of a street name. I'll bet we could put our heads together and come up with many other streets and statue sites to be recycled with more deserving honorees.
ReplyDeleteHere, I'll explain it. The same people who feel Columbus must be honored forever, changing social mores and historical understanding be damned, dig in on Balbo too because they're revanchist Trumpies who cast any change as an offense against their precious selves. They don't live in the real world, but in a world of continual victimhood, the victims being themselves. It isn't about honor, but about grievance.
DeleteI keep saying that Balbo Drive should be renamed after Enrico Fermi. That would keep the Italians here happy & Fermi became a major part of the Manhattan Project, which ended the war with Japan!
DeleteAccording to the Ken Burns documentary "The Civil War", Lee opposed both secession and slavery. He only took up the cause after Virginia seceded, out of a sense of loyalty to his home state.
DeletePrior to murdering his first victim, Jeffrey Dahmer was quite kind. He only took up killing people out of a sense of wanting to eat them.
DeleteWhy DOES Chicago continue honoring Italo Balbo? Spent half my life in the city of my birth, and the continuing Balbo worship has always puzzled me. A flight of 24 seaplanes, all the way from Italy. To celebrate the World's Fair. Landed on Lake Michigan. Okay, so it was a big deal at the time, but that was in 1933. Long, long time ago...it's time to move on, doncha know.. Plenty of worthy candidates for a rebranding.
DeleteThat same year, Balbo was appointed the governor-general of Italian Libya. This may have been a way to keep him from succeeding Mussolini. Balbo opposed Mussolini's alliance with Nazi Germany, but he became the commander of the Italian armies in North Africa, and battled British forces when WWII began. In June, 1940, Balbo was killed when his plane was mistakenly shot down by Italian anti-aircraft fire.
I'd refer you to Newton's 1st law of motion: "A body in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted on by an outside force." The name remains because of inertia; nobody has tried very hard to change it. Plus, as I said elsewhere, old-line Italian groups have cast any change to their cast of heroes as a slap in the face to their ethnicity. It's as if the city put up a statue to Stepin Fetchit in 1931, and now a small group of Blacks insisted it remain forever.
DeleteWell done, sir.
ReplyDeleteI have been feeling awfully glum about our current state of affairs lately. the news keeps getting worse. Your exchange with Brian M brightened my outlook this morning. I certainly don't envy you the task of reading through all the mail that is sent in. I know not everyone blasting out their reactions and responses is as civil or as willing to dialogue . But I'm glad you shared this particular exchange. I am going to try to incorporate the phrase "good point!" in my own exchanges this week.
ReplyDelete"Statues aren't history — they're honor." That's perfectly accurate and succinct. The powers put up statues of Lee all over the South to honor him; and to honor white supremacy. Nice to hear a reasonable exchange on touchy subject.
ReplyDeleteI dimly recall the Reagan Project. They wanted a memorial to him in every county in America. That's a lot of honor!
I wonder . . . .who'll be making a buck off Trump memorials in the not too long from now?
The old saying "history is written by the victors" is not always true. One of the first real historians, Thucydides, wrote about the losers. After the Civil War, the first to write the history were Confderate generals. Knowing that defending slavery was not a good look, they wrote about the noble southern warrior and the Lost Cause. The fight became the War Between the States based on a dispute over the constitutional right to secede. This myth took a long time dying, and is still alive in many parts of the South. Those statues are monuments to a lie. I don't know if it's still there, but there was a big sign for a Stonewall Jackson shrine in Virginia. Not a statue, not a monument but a SHRINE! Enuff already with this confederate nonsense.
ReplyDeleteInsert America in the same premise and you understand the MAGA rollbacks.
DeleteAs an Italian-American who has lived in Chicago for 25 years, it disgusts me that Balbo merits a street and a monument. My grandfather, who immigrated from Italy as a child, fought in Italy as an American soldier during WWII. Had Balbo not died before America entered the war, he would have been one of those in charge of attacking men like my grandfather. That Chicago Italians honor this fascist's memory prompts me to question their patriotism. They're disgusting. Honestly, if it were up to me I'd blow up the monument and rename the street after Fred Hampton. Screw them; he deserves the honor far more than Balbo or Columbus.
ReplyDeleteYou're way too tolerant.
ReplyDeleteI'd delete when I saw the phrase "what about."
I'm not a big fan of whataboutism.
See, Mr. S., you can be quite persuasive.
ReplyDeleteI have been meaning to get back to my daily reading of EGD and finally got back to it today. I agree that you made that point very well, and I may borrow it in the future. I've missed the clear and witty way you write, and it's good to be back!
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time understanding people of Italian heritage clinging to Columbus after all we now know about him. I mean, there are so many great Italians in history that they could hitch their wagon to - Galileo Galilei and Leonardo da Vinci come to mind just off the top of my head - why are they so stuck on a murderous savage?
ReplyDeleteBecause they cherish their victimhood, and clutch at it as it recedes. If you're not a victim, then you are responsible for your own life, and who wants that?
Delete"History isn't being lost when a statue is toppled to the ground. History is being made." - Nathaniel Philbrook
ReplyDelete