Ed Walters
Aug 27, 2017 · 3 min read

Thank you for taking the time for your thoughtful response. I too, appreciate the many viewpoints that are brought forth on this issue and place validity and respect on all the responses. Having lived most of my life in Iowa and having formed a deep fondness for Abraham Lincoln and a repulsion of hatred and racism and having lived in Florida for the past twenty years, I can truly say that I have gained an appreciation of different perspectives. I agree with you that the main distinction between the Confederate leaders and the leaders that I referenced is the fact that the Confederates were intent on dividing the nation based on their perspective that there were irreconcilable differences in ideology whereas the non-Confederate leaders were committed to the goal of preserving the union. Like you, I think the goal of individuals and society should be to seek greater enlightenment and to work toward eliminating hate and division. And I do believe that the general path or direction of the human species has been toward greater enlightenment (although there have been some bumps in the road along the way). I enjoy reading and studying books on history and biographies and one fact I have been struck with is how important it is to view historical events from the perspective of the time and place in which the events occurred and to have a sense of the politics and ideologies of the time. I am a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson. I have read several of his books and have visited Monticello. If we consider the fact that Jefferson owned an estimated 650 slaves and refused to do anything, it appears racist by today’s standards. Especially when you consider the fact that he authored the nation’s mission statement declaring that “All men (people) are created equal” and considering that he was in a position of power and influence it becomes even more indefensible. He was also of the opinion that the United States was essentially an “experiment in Democracy” and was on record of predicting that the country would not survive beyond twenty or thirty years. Given that sense of the country’s destiny, which would be somewhere on the contiuum between pessimism and cautious optimism, it is little wonder that the people from the south did not see their place in the nation’s history in the same way that we do today. The country was only 84 years old when the Civil War began and there was a greater division in the country in 1860 before there was mass media and communication networks that would later make the world much smaller and connected. They were merely acting on their belief that the cultures of the north and south were irreconciliable. I feel that it is as illogical to remove stone edifices celebrating Jefferson with all of his conflicting ideologies that are at odd with today’s ideas of what constitutes racism as it is to remove the monuments of people from a different culture that felt were acting on the best interests of their culture at the time. I recognize that many of these monuments were constructed in the early 1900’s during the Jim Crow era, but they still can serve as reminders and admonitions to the current age. Like I mentioned in my original response, I visited a park in Prague a couple months ago that has preserved the Soviet monuments of Lenin and Stalin and many other leaders that I had never heard of before to serve as a reminder of the dark side of human potential. I also visited Auschwitz and Birkenou and feel that although this represents a tragic era of human history it still serves as a reminder that we need to remain watchful and vigilant. Again, I appreciate your taking time to respond. I respect your opinions and they are well thought out.

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    Ed Walters

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