Monuments are supposed to resemble history and events of the past, however, some of the people have been made into statues that represent and have an ‘evil’ ideology. Today, there are numerous Confederate monuments being displayed at Gettysburg – where the largest number of casualties took place. There have been many controversies on if these monuments should be left up for their glorification of the Confederates contribution to the Civil War. A monument is a symbol of heroism, but these Confederate soldiers were not heroes. The Confederates fought to keep slavery existing. One prominent leader during the Civil War was Robert E. Lee, who was Confederate General, and was the first monument to be built at Gettysburg in 1917. He was the one who lead his army to Gettysburg and fought the Union to perserve the enslavement of slaves in the South.
A book that discusses the Civil War, The Killer Angels by Micheal Shaara, demonstrates good literature and beautiful representation of the Civil War Era through conflict and death that both parties had between each other. At the end of the book, it discusses that Lee himself said that “No blame can be attached to the army for its failure to accomplish what was projected by me”. Why do people continue to praise a man that lost the war with horrible beliefs? He himself believed that he was a failure to the winning of the war. Ken Burn in the film about ‘The Civil War’ discusses the truth of what took place during the Civil War. With a vast number of calcutities over if people should be free there should be no honor and praise for those who fought to keep people enslaved. We should move forward and remove these Confederate monuments because they continue to uphold the beliefs of people that they are not equal.
There have been events such as Charlottesville 2017 where Right wing white supremacists, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, neo-fascits, alt-right, where they rallied up together because of the take down of Confederate monuments. Of course, it created violence between the Right wing group and those who believed in the take down of the Confederate monuments, but as seen by these events the only people who really want to keep up the Confederate monuments are those who racist. As for recently, on September 8th, 2021, there was a monument of Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia taken down. Majority of the people are ready to move on and take these monuments down, it’s only those who agree with the racist ideologies of the south continue to push back these takedowns.
Removing a monument is not to say that it should be completely destroyed, but it should be placed into a museum. A museum would be the perfect place since it’s where people go to learn about the past. It’s not a place to create judgement. And while there is the argument that the monuments should stay where they are because it ‘preserves history’ the representation of the Confederate statues still stand as a symbol of racism. Look at museums, such as the Auschwitz Concentration Camp today that hold a sad and horrible past, but are used to move forward as a society. While these events are immeasurably comparable it is a good example of what can be done when people are put in a place to learn. And no, having the statues in plain sight to stand tall in a community is not a museum. A symbol that does not change only because it is now considered to be part of history.
Now, it’s time to think about if the Confederate monuments continue to be removed, what about monuments, such as Rushmore who depicts the founding fathers. Should these monuments be removed because Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves and wrote in the consituation that ‘all men are created equal’ providing this wrong narrative that slaves were seen as equal when they were not because of the color of their skin. Or monuments of Christopher Columbus, a traveler and a colonist, who took over islands, such as the carribeans and landed in the ‘New World’ to kill Native who were existing already in the land. Yes, if this statement that continues to be mentioned through this op-ed stands true that they should be taken down then these other monuments should too because as they stand still hold a controversial and evil past in the creation of this nation. They should be preserved in a museum to be viewed by people for the learning experience and society should continue to be progressive in showcasing those who provide good ideologies.
At the end of the day, it’s based on the community’s belief on what should happen to the monument. It’s taxpayer money to keep these monuments up. It’s what keeps the monuments up in the first place and providing government protection for Gettysburg being a historical landmark. While the NPS argues that “the National Park Service is committed to preserving these memorials while simultaneously educating visitors holistically about the actions, motivations, and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate.” As mentioned earlier in this op-ed it should be moved into a museum as it would be a better learning place as the community won’t be able to see these monuments in their community upholding ‘evil’.
Credit: Paul Pepper for his contribution to this essay for helping me strengthen my argument.