A Plaque on Both Your Houses

[executrix]

History is a record of what happened, not the (much shorter) record of GOOD things that happened. So my advice to courts and legislatures considering Confederate monument cases would be to impose a mandatory injunction keeping the monument there--with a plaque attached saying something like "NAME fought to defend the South's heritage of persecution and exploitation, a disgrace to humanity that exists to this day. NEVER FORGET. Paid for by Black Lives Matter and the NAACP."

Comments

[baranduin]

I like how you're thinking here ...

[serpentine]

This would be a good solution to those Confederate monuments on US Park land. They probably won't let us tear the ones down on the battlefields, but those monuments glorify the Confederacy and all it stands for and I always just want to spit on them when I'm near one.

[lavendertook]

Tearing down a monument is not like burning a book. We're not talking about ground breaking works of sculpture here, or erasing the recording of history or art. Monuments are spaces for commemoration and celebration where land is limited. And I believe black people don't need plaques to remind them of this history recorded in their families' struggles, and should be able to go to spaces of commemoration without having to look at Confederate war criminals, so no way should the NAACP or Black Lives Matter have to pay for anything involved in this. Though as an interim step while a court case for tearing it down is pending, a mandatory plaque as you describe is a good idea, paid for by the state in which it resides.

[executrix]

I agree with you--BLACK people don't need plaques to remind them.

[stardreamer]

I don't think that was the point. The point, as I see it, is that black people should not be forced to walk past a reminder of that period -- and its side effects which are STILL ONGOING -- every time they go to the park or walk into a public building, where they may well be going for reasons that are already stressful. Every one of these monuments is a painful reminder that they are STILL not considered full members of society.

[minoanmiss]

Thank you for saying this. I was trying to figure out how to, once I stopped shaking.

[ekaterinn]

THIS. Also, an awful lot of those monuments were erected specifically to remind black people of "their place." Tearing them down is the least we can do.

Executrix, if you want to educate people, why not advocate for the erection of statues to commemorate the achievement of black people and other minorities - there's so many of those that are seriously underappreciated.

THAT might be a solution for cities like Birmingham who want to take down statues but are constrained by state law - put up a new statue of a person of color for every Confederate statue that remains standing. Unlike a plaque, these would be visible statements of the worth of black people AND teachable moments for white people.

[executrix]

That would be great-statues of Ida B. Wells would be an excellent start.

[lavendertook]

Thank you for stating this so well. It's about prioritizing the needs of black people in this history of white people denying them their humanity.