cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 7:44 am
I have been meaning to throw this out here on this forum. This morning I have a few moments to do so. There has been a suggestion here by some posters about a solution to the issue of confederate statues and monuments. i agree for the most part about the solution. These items should be but in a central location, be that a museum, to be displayed in their proper context in history. My question here, who is to decide what that proper context is? Is that the US government? Is that the sons and daughters of the confederacy? Who would establish this museum? Is it possible that a sanctuary for all these confederates would then be created? Instead of statues standing in a public square that pigeons poop on and drunken college students urinate on there is now a holy spot where all the modern day relatives of the con federacy can go and pay homage to their ancestors. Sometimes you have to be careful about what you ask for. You now would have one location where throngs of people could have picinics in the summer celebrating Robert E Lee and the old south. You would also have throngs of counter protesters outside the new museum protesting anybody that would go in to visit. What say all of you folks? I'm a NY Yankee, if they busted all these statues down and sold them for scrap I would be just as fine with that.
Definitely not the US Govt. Shouldn't decisions like that be left up to state and city govt's?
I'm basically agnostic re the monument issue, but if people are offended by certain statues/monuments/relics placed in the "public square", of course action should be taken.
State and/or city govts should decide, firstly, whether there is valid basis for demands for removal, and secondly by vote, whether the relics should left in place, destroyed, or placed in a museum setting.
A recent example:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/ ... laveowner/
Personally, I would never have voted for this. In the case of Jefferson, his body of work outweighs his participation in malevolent 18th/19th Century norms.
Vandalism should never be acceptable. Convicted offenders should face jail time.
A national historic park like Gettysburg should be left untouched, and in the case of national parks and museums, have federal protections.