REMOVE D.C.’S LAST REMAINING REMINDER OF THE CONFEDERACY — & MAKE IT INTO A HISTORY LESSON

GWUL365
GWUL365
Aug 25, 2017 · 5 min read

By George H. Lambert, Jr. | President & CEO of The Greater Washington Urban League

In the smoldering wake of Charlottesville, cities across the country, particularly throughout the once Jim Crow-hobbled South, are either considering or actively engaged in the removal of any statues that nostalgically celebrate the Confederacy, it’s only fitting that Washington, D.C., both locally and federally, should follow suit.

Baltimore, MD Mayor Catherine Pugh took initiative and swiftly removed their four statues in the dead of night, before there could be any pushback or violent resistance from white supremacists falsely rallying under the guise of free speech. Even Maryland’s Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican sharing the same party with white nationalist apologist Donald Trump, instigated midnight removal of pro-slavery Chief Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney’s statue from state capitol grounds. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced the immediate formation of a commission to recommend removal of Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, long an eye sore in the majority-Black city. And other states such as North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as cities from Nashville, TN to Jacksonville, FL are all calling for the removal of all Confederate statues and monuments.

Now, in Washington, D.C., city leaders are uniting to force federal authorities to remove the statue of traitorous Confederate general Albert Pike from Judiciary Square. It’s doubtful, based on the composition of the federal government at the moment, that such a proposal will get anywhere. Still, it is a morally commendable move and, simply, the best thing for a city that celebrates its long, storied Black History and its diversity. Pike was not only a Confederate general who passionately supported the cruel institution of chattel slavery, but he was heavily involved with white supremacist, domestic terror groups like the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War. These groups perpetually plotted revenge against free Blacks and the U.S. government for the South’s loss.

This controversy is, of course, about decisively finding closure on the most despicable chapter in America’s past. It is also about American society finding ways to fully embrace the humanity of Black people and using these moments as a soothing form of racial reconciliation and dialogue so we can move forward as a nation.

But, it is also the practical, decent, pro-American thing to do. There is no gray area here. This is about good vs. evil. These United States, and its citizens, should not be celebrating or memorializing treasonous Confederate figures in history who were nothing more than racist insurgents attempting to overthrow the legitimate U.S. government. Period. That insurgency was no different from the modern Taliban in Afghanistan or the Islamic State in places like Syria and Nigeria that Republicans and racist apologists like Trump like to constantly highlight as threats to national security.That insurgency, which wreaked mass destruction on American soil for five years, killed nearly 700,000 people. Many white Southerners, to this day, feel compelled to honor people like General Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson or Jefferson Davis as “legends” of Southern “heritage.” Yet, all of these men engaged in brutal treason against our government in the name of keeping human beings in chains for their own economic purposes.

This is why history lessons are important. While mass condemnation and removal of Confederate statues, along with the removal of the “Rebel Flag” from public land, is important, we do risk missing an important historical conversation. Recent polls show most Americans don’t know crucial American history. Less than 20 percent of 8th graders are “proficient” in U.S. history, according to a 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report (along with only 23 percent proficiency in civics). And a survey on Civil War history released by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in 2015 discovered that only half of all Americans know the years the Civil War took place, while only 28 percent know how the Emancipation Proclamation effected slaves. A random, but well documented survey of Texas Tech students in 2014 by PoliTech found most believed the South won the Civil War.

That level of ahistorical ignorance is driven and compounded by a national educational system actively engaged in the whitewashing of Black History. If it’s not textbooks trivializing slavery or relegating it to a footnote, it’s eighth graders scoring low in essential topics like history, geography and civics. This type of willful, systemic ignorance breeds division and racist contempt. A national obsession with testing over comprehension and intellectual discourse has found schools gradually eliminating social studies curriculum from the classroom, a dangerous development considering the pillar of any democracy is an informed electorate. Charlottesville and the election of those who are open apologists for white supremacists shouldn’t surprise us. This has been a movie long in the making.

Lost in the emotional fire of this debate is a needed history lesson. We can’t take down these monuments without one, and yet we are. Hence, it would be crucial for cities and states to engage citizens with just as much equal energy dedicated to public history lessons. This is critical for our young people, particularly at a time when various jurisdictions, particularly in the South, are whitewashing or diminishing the story of slavery in textbooks. Baltimore could have, for example, benefited from an open public discussion on the fact that it was, technically, the site of the first clash and casualties of the Civil War. When we know the bad parts of our history, we are less likely to repeat them.

The fact that it took so long for city leaders to demand the Pike statue’s removal begs questioning “ but, ultimately, it’s the right move and it must be done. There is no place for a statue of a traitor and pro-slavery war criminal in our unified nation’s Capital, a place where Black citizens, Black elected officials, and Black communities thrive and where the business of the nation is conducted in a civil, non-violent manner between men and women of different backgrounds.

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GWUL365

GWUL365

The Greater Washington Urban League is a major multicultural nonpartisan, nonprofit social services and civil rights organization. More at GWUL.org

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