The entire debacle of the Confederate monument conversation is exacerbated by two unfortunate events; first, the entire debate has become an extremely contentious point that flares strong emotions of both sides, especially in the wake of Charlottesville, and second, the nostalgia for a "country" that never actually formed has thrown in a slew of misinformation that isn't conducive to finding an actual solution. The actual "art" aspect of the monuments have been thrown out of the picture, and this non-issue has become highly politicized and racialized. This disregard for artistic considerations and pedestal-ing some goal of appeasement of a political ideology, I believe, resulted in the absolutely frightening Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue. While paraded as some progression in racial equality, the Arthur Ashe statue was just something for Richmond to point at and say "hey, we may have Confederate monuments, but look at our token black statue. There's no issue with this street anymore, haha, we were never the heart of the Confederacy." And, of course, compositionally, it looks more like Arthur Ashe fending off a bunch of demon children crowding around his knees than anything else.
Addressing the issue of Charlottesville, there's no doubt in my mind that after such a horrific incident, there is no place for Confederate monuments in our modern society. Constitutionally? It would be difficult to make an equal protection claim, especially with the narrowing definition of that area of jurisprudence, and I don't see any other way to go about it. But Thurgood Marshall articulated (in a separate issue, but the principle still applies I think) that as our society progresses, and as we develop evolving standards of decency, there's a moral value in getting rid of anachronistic, barbaric relics, especially since Confederate monuments only exacerbate polarization and racial tensions. This article, I believe, really went through the reasons why Confederate monuments need to come down, especially in the wake of Charlottesville. It was in this event that Confederate monuments transformed from a conversation about their place in our state to a seething, violent argument that now circulates around "heritage" and racists. Mayor Signer says it best, the violence "added a poisonous envelope" around the monuments. Which is why it is extremely inappropriate to keep Virginia's monuments. With VA boasting a proud history of slavery (even separating from West Virginia because VA needed their slaves so badly they couldn't deal with the anti-slavery westerners, but we don't talk about that in this household) and being the home of many Confederate, slave-owning generals, it seems ridiculous there are still active Sons/Daughters of the Confederacy chapters. I understand, to an extent, the intrigue of having a historically loaded ancestry, but just because the person who died for his right to own slaves was your great great grandpa doesn't mean he died for a just cause. This is all to say, VA should have been done with these monuments long ago. Having white nationalists stupidly chant around a Thomas Jefferson statue with their Polynesian kitsch (10) should have been the nail on the nail to the already buried coffin. Lastly, predating Charlottesville, this debate has revolved around a slew of misinformation. First things first, the Confederacy was never a state. It had a president and constitution, yes, but none of that is legitimate if they spend their entire existence in a war about their own statehood. Nobody is "from" the Confederate States. Second, unequivocally, the Confederacy was not a war about states rights or whatever sugarcoat you want to put over it. I'm tired of hearing old white people say the war was fought because the elitist Northerners were oppressing the oh-so-underrepresented Southerners. They fought for their right to own human beings. And if you don't think that's true, you would have to tell the entire Confederacy to do that, because in their own Constitution they explicitly state they are fighting for the right to own slaves. And yes, there were political institutions beforehand that "oppressed" the South, I guess, if you count the downfall of the Missouri Compromise, but everything relates back to slaves. Thirdly, the monuments were not built to educate or remember. They were built in the Jim Crow era and early 20th century (when the KKK was being revitalized) because they wanted to make it clear to newly freed African Americans that the United States is not a home for them. They were built to intimidate (5). Essentially, this has been an inappropriate conversation ever since the first Confederate monument went up, especially in the wake of the violence that erupted in Charlottesville. The government should not be in the business of using its First Amendment right to revere a couple of traitors and glorify a movement of treason.
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