Last week, in a fit of triumphalism, an equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee was melted down into ingots of anonymous, faceless metal.
The statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was at the center of the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., was secretly melted down last week to be remade into a more inclusive artwork ... It was cut into nine pieces, weighed about 6,000 pounds and required a forklift to move ... It was melted down and then molded into a brick-like casting.
The controversial statue had been removed from its spot in 2021 and placed in a bus depot until it was handed over to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which had to move the artwork to various locations over safety concerns.
. . .
Charlottesville’s black history museum went forward with their melting plans at a foundry outside of the state last week and there’s no plans to recast the metal into cannons, as some confederacy groups proposed.
Andrea Douglas and Jalane Schmidt – who run Swords into Plowshares – plan on taking the bronze and remake into something that city residents come up with.
They’ve already started getting ideas from residents, the Washington Post said.
Schmidt was happy to see Lee go, saying the statue was like “if there’s a rabid dog in the neighborhood that’s been hurting people, and it needs to be euthanized.”
However, one of the foundrymen, who was not named, said he hopes the melting doesn’t “convey a message of hate on hate.”
The group had a hard time finding someone that would melt down the metal and the foundry they did use is owned by a black man.
“The risk is being targeted by people of hate, having my business damaged, having threats to family and friends, [but] when you are approached with such an honor, especially to destroy hate, you have to do it,” the owner told the outlet.
There's more at the link.
Trouble is, lashing out in hatred or triumphalism or whatever against a hated symbol . . . well, two can play at that game. The red-hot face of the Lee statue was photographed just before it finally melted down into slag, and that image has become a rallying cry for those on the other side. Witness this T-shirt already available on Amazon:
I'm sure it won't be the last of its kind, or the only memorial to the statue and the man it depicted.
I hold no brief for the long-dead Confederate States of America, or their leading figures. I wasn't born then, and didn't come to America until my 37th year of age, so I was far removed from those memories and still am. However, millions of others aren't, and they take what was done to the Lee statue as a personal, cultural and historical insult. They aren't about to forget it, and are (to judge by some of the comments I've seen on social media) more than likely to find ways to retaliate. I wonder how many statues of George Floyd, or Martin Luther King Jr., or other figures important to black history and culture, are likely to be kidnapped and melted down? If that happens, I doubt whether the reaction of the black community will be mild acceptance . . . so why couldn't the black leaders who demanded, and got, the destruction of the Lee statue have foreseen the reaction to their intemperate act?
This isn't over, not by a long way. It's left a legacy of bitterness that will take years, perhaps decades, to work out of the American system - and who knows what further consequences it may spawn?
Peter
19 comments:
Most people don't understand the Civil war. It was recast as a war against slavery, but it was not that simple. Many who fought in the war, such as General Lee himself, were against slavery. However, Lee fought, because his state was under attack. People saw themselves via their state first and as an American second. Lincoln smashed that and was the beginning of the federal overreach we see today. Then there is how Lyndon B. Johnson and welfare changed race relations and how race hustlers have acted to aggravate wounds rather than heal them.
Such people as melted the statue aren't destroying hate, they are displaying how they are being manipulated.
Memorial Avenue in Richmond used to be beautiful with all the statues. It is now ruined by our cultural Taliban.
My family has been in this country over three centuries now. My immediate ancestors fought for the Union. Nevertheless, I find the destruction of history and the disrespect for the honorable men my ancestors fought to be disgusting and repulsive.
What goes around comes around. Someday those Floyd statues will be the target. And I will rejoice at the payback.
Since you're not a native, it might interest you to know that General Lee spent his few remaining years after the war working toward reconciliation. He was influential in convincing other Confederate leaders to let go of the war and avoid a long and bloody guerilla conflict. He was one of the first to take the amnesty oath as an example for others. His stature in the eyes of all Southerners was such that many people agreed to the path of peace and put down their arms.
Also, the erecting of statues to Civil War veterans occurred many years after the war was over. It was seen as a way to honor the deceased on both sides and acknowledge that the war was over and we were one country again. Tearing them down now can and will be seen as a total rejection of the "one country again" belief, instead we are now in a brutal fight against an anti-American public that wants a scorched earth war with what's left of traditional American life.
The outrageous destruction of our civilization, society, and history by the totalitarian left is deliberate.
They intend to destroy our history, to hide their failures and moreover, the reasons why their ideas have failed every time they are tried.
Punishing their "enemies" is a side benefit, and if they can drive a small, violent response, even if they have to do it themselves, they think that they can use the structures of government to do their work.
They might be able to try for a military solution, if they bring the military age invaders into the Army as thugs, to be used against Americans. Their claims of "insurrection" seem to point that way.
I don't think that their ideas will work this time, either, but it will be a long, horrible, and painful time.
John in Indy
Erasing the past is needed for the brave new world they are building.
Speaking of the brave new world they are building I just heard of a another control built into the Infrastructure Bill passed last year, kill switches on all the new cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXw56GuIZQ plus the sound & video monitoring that goes on inside the car.
I wonder just how much of that bill is actually roads & bridges?
Melting history doesn't destroy it, it just allows it flow to places it may not have otherwise reached...
I hold no brief for the long-dead Confederate States of America, or their leading figures. I wasn't born then, and didn't come to America until my 37th year of age, so I was far removed from those memories and still am.
I was born in the states just about 90 years after that war and grew up in the south. Well, Miami is geographically south, but often considered a distant suburb of NYC. In the 50s and 60s, much less so. Still, I knew essentially nothing about Lee until fairly recently in my adult life, maybe my late 50s/early 60s. Everything I've encountered about Lee tells me he was a good and honorable man.
Everything I know about statues to people and tearing them down is that if you don't like the person and what they did, the statue is a reminder to do better. History teaches us lessons of what NOT to do just as much as what TO do. Taking turns tearing down statues completely destroys learning.
Not much good and/or honorable about George Floyd.
The people doing this are doing their best to kick off inter-racial conflict and war, because that means that they and their backers aren't the targets, and can continue with their destruction without consequences - it's a divide and conquer tactic.
I'd like to echo what Don said. Peter, you would be rewarded to read up on Lee, who seems as fine a Christian man as any of us could hope to be.
It's not just the memorial they are tearing down. It is enshrined knto culture that you are only defined by your lowest or worst moment. It is jettisoning the idea of redemption and reform from society.
That certain class wants their cake and eat it too; to live like tribal Africa but with the blessings and benefits of America.
They act like they deserve it and it is from you they shall take. They have sown discord and division. The time of reaping shall come.
I'm pretty sure these people wailed and rended their garments (at least figuratively) when the Taliban destroyed those Cultural Heritage Sites (Bamiyan Buddhas) and don't see any parallels at all.
"...why couldn't the black leaders who demanded, and got, the destruction of the Lee statue have foreseen the reaction to their intemperate act?"
The same reason Africans can't foresee the results of any of the other stupid things they do: they are not smart and have no impulse control. They live in an eternal now where the past has little relevance, there is no future, and the only existential drive is ME WANT NOW. They simply aren't capable of envisioning consequences beyond first order effects.
Thanks for the link to the shirt, can't give them my money fast enough.
The Civil War was about federal supremacy versus that of the states. It was cast as about slavery as that was the op of the day to get the common Northerner engaged to fight. As today, the winners weren't good guys any more than the losers were.
Conquerors traditionally tear down the vanquished's statues, eliminate their memorials, unperson their heroes, and delete their history.
Once again proof that the right is far better at satire and memes than the left.
"Those people", as General Lee might have called them, are sowing the wind.
--Tennessee Budd
The same BLM crowd that threw paint and demanded the destruction of Confederate statues also tore one down dedicated to Fredrick Douglass -- what Confederate unit did HE command? Also William Penn was protested....
. The Socialist Left are simply following their normal game plan. -- destroy the history of your opponent so you can make it up and write the future in persuit of their goals.
Yet when the twin towers went down americans did not see it as a new york attack and rallied as americans. New york has behaved miserably towards americans since then. Screw them, one and all. My sympathies to the families of soldiers killed for NOTHING, maimed for NOTHING that answered america's(sic) call to rally to slaughter foriegn innocents for 20 years! Never again!
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