If Congress removes Confederate statues, who next: Jefferson?

[Jazzy]

As America seeks answers to a senseless massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., last week by an avowed white supremacist, Confederate symbols, statuary, and legends are under siege from Memphis, Tenn., to Atlanta.

But it’s the United States Capitol that has emerged as a crucible for the larger debate, as lawmakers rethink the meaning and value of displaying statues of these Southern icons.

Georgia designated Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, as one of the two persons notable in its history to represent the state in the halls of Congress, for example. Virginia picked Gen. Robert E. Lee, the iconic military hero of the Confederacy.

But as Confederate iconography comes under attack, a difficult question is arising: How far should a national housecleaning go, given that Washington is awash in Confederate remembrances and many Founding Fathers owned slaves.

“The point we’re at [with the debate at the Capitol] is, Do we add to history or do we take away from history?” says Brion McClanahan, a historian and author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes.”

“The problem is, if we start taking away Lee, where do you stop?" he adds. "Do you take down the Jefferson Memorial? Do you rename Washington, D.C.?”

But it's not clear how far this purge should go. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are already drawing a line between the Confederate battle flag and the statuary, which they say represents important historical figures that, for better or worse, pushed America toward its present iteration.

Confederate statues “are part of our history … and not all of our history is dandelions and butterflies,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R) of South Carolina told Fox News.

At the same time, Senator Scott balked at the idea of taking down Confederate statuary from the halls of Congress. So did Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, an African-American congressman and a Democrat.

“I think making great progress on ... moving the Confederate battle flag from its place of prominence in so many states, I think that’s a good thing,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But "as far as monuments and street names and building names, where do you stop? Where does it all lead to?”

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Webster]

They won't get rid of Jefferson....why? Simple: he didn't fight to split America apart from 1861-1865...unlike Alexander Stephens, for instance. Did Jefferson own slaves? Yeah, he did...but, like most every other Founding Father, Jefferson saw that slavery would eventually end and tried several times to change the laws regarding slavery in his home state of Virginia.

But to suggest they'll take Jefferson down? That's taking ridiculous all the way out to 11 on the ridiculousness scale.

 

[DrLeftover]

Anybody the liberals don't like.

Beginning with all "dead white men".

 

[Webster]

Anybody the liberals don't like.

Beginning with all "dead white men".

 

[DrLeftover]

Well, you know about Washington, AND Jefferson, Madison, and.... etc etc

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Remove all the Confederate propaganda from public places. or don't... White supremacists will still be white supremacists either way.

 

[Webster]

Well, you know about Washington, AND Jefferson, Madison, and.... etc etc

Or they could take a page from West Point, where they still teach to cadets the military tactics and strategies of Robert E. Lee and other Confederates, while also reminding the cadets of what Lee and the others tried to do to the United States later on. Heck, Doc, the Israeli military teaches its' tanker crews about the tactics of Rommel & Guderian, for crying out loud, so what is the point there?

 

[DrLeftover]

The point is that there are those in this country actively seeking to either rewrite or to remove entire chapters from the history books.

 

[Webster]

Rewrite, definitely...remove, not so much.