COLUMN: Confederate monuments are about oppression, not history – Meadville Tribune

In the wake of the vicious attack on peaceful protestors in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, it has become clear that a virulent strain of racist, anti-Semitic white supremacist thought has been quietly nurtured across the country.

This movement can be clearly traced to the end of the Civil War and linked to the traitors who fought that war against the United States, and who, almost immediately after their defeat, initiated a campaign of propaganda and re-writing of history which has brought us to this terrible day, over 150 years later.

Sadly, the argument that the preservation of Confederate iconography, statues, monuments and flags is an important part of remembering our history continues to be made by defenders of the white supremacist and Nazi movement in this country. This includes statements made by President Donald Trump, who equated removal of Confederate statues to taking down monuments of President George Washington. But these two are not, in fact, the same.

First, Washington and the Founding Fathers established the United States of America, the country in which we live. I feel that this should be obvious, but it appears to bear repeating: We put up monuments to these men because they started the country that we live in. By contrast, the leaders of the Confederacy were traitors who rebelled against this country, fought a horrible war over it and were soundly defeated. Putting up statues to honor them is like putting up statues of Adolf Hitler to honor World War II. Why should we do that?

And indeed, for many years after the Civil War, we did not. But as black Americans agitated for more rights and as Jim Crow segregation was being enshrined into law in the early part of the 20th century, the Confederate monuments went up at a great pace. This indeed puts the lie to the defenders of these statues. They were raised and dedicated as a visual reminder of Jim Crow and segregation, to ensure that every black American who walked under the shadow of those statues knew his or her place in that society.

It is not coincidence that Hitler himself pointed out the model of Southern segregation and Jim Crow laws as inspiration for his race-based discrimination and eventual genocide. Its in "Mein Kampf" if you want to check, as well as later Nazi propaganda aimed at normalizing their race-based laws discriminating against the Jews.

The next historic spike in construction of Confederate monuments, as well as naming schools after Confederate leaders, happened during the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s. This is, again, not a coincidence. George Wallace, the racist governor of Alabama, raised the Confederate battle flag over the capital of his state after calling for segregation forever. So please do tell me how that flag is not a symbol of a racist ideology?

Of course, that last point should now be clear. The murderous Nazis who descended on Charlottesville carried that flag with them wherever they went. They wrapped themselves in Confederate symbols because the brutal, slave-owning regime of the South is their ideal, the future past that they aspire to. As Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens said in his 1863 Cornerstone Speech, Our new government is founded upon ... the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.

There should be no room in our country for statues to these men. History is not made of statues. There are many ways to remember the history of the Confederacy: museums and books are just two great examples. But the monuments, statues, flags and names of the traitors who stood against these United States to preserve slavery do not deserve a place of honor in our society. It is well past time to remove them all.

Devon C. Stout is The Meadville Tribune's director of audience development.

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COLUMN: Confederate monuments are about oppression, not history - Meadville Tribune