“That Conversation about Race” category archive

My local rag published the letter I wrote to the editor on Monday. You can find it on their website, but I’ll save you the trouble. Here is the text:

I find myself bemused by those who refer to the removal of Confederate monuments as “erasing history.”

Let’s consider the history.

Almost all of the monuments in question were erected in the 1890s and early 1900s coincident with the imposition of Jim Crow and the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan. They were intended to remind freed slaves and their descendants of their “place” and of who was in charge. They memorialized, not gallantry on the battlefield, but racism, oppression, and theft of labor in daily life.

When invoking history, invoke the history that was, not the history that was made up.

“Base” desires.

Ironically, Robert E. Lee did not want monuments.

Monumental mayhem in the Tar Heel state. Here’s a bit from the report:

Competing demonstrations over a Confederate monument in Alamance County ended after two supporters of the statue were arrested for assault and disorderly conduct, according to police and media reports.

Police said one of the men, 39-year-old Christopher Overman, hit Elon University professor Megan Squire, who was protesting a statue in Graham, about 55 miles northwest of Raleigh. Squire researches online right-wing extremism at the university, according to the school.

And, in more news of still rising again . . . .

In Maine, you might expect to see a moose, but a noose?

A noose was removed from telephone lines along Route 15 in Deer Isle on Saturday, while nearby Black Lives Matter signs were vandalized the day before. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.