Down They Go...

We live in tumultuous times- possibly up there among the most difficult periods this nation has ever faced. Since early 2020 the coronavirus pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world, inlcuding more than 132,000 in the U.S.  No end is in sight to this death toll.

Then on May 25 in Minneapolis George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, is killed on the street by a police officer who relentlessly kneeled on his neck for eight minutes, despite Floyd repeatedly saying he could not breathe. Floyd died at the scene.

The resulting protests and riots, many violent with bloodshed, fires and looting, have rocked and disrupted America. Statues of historic Americans linked with slavery and racism (accurately or not in some cases) have been vandalized, toppled, burned and destroyed.

In Charleston the tall statue in Marion Square of John C. Calhoun was recently removed by order of the mayor and City Council.

He may have been South Carolina’s most prominent political figure ever as a 19th century U.S. senator and Vice President. But his pro-slavery stance and the policies he championed to uphold and try to expand slavery have long been controversial and upsetting to Blacks.

I took this photo with my iPhone in January 2018 while sitting in the Starbucks at the Francis Marion Hotel. What I liked about it was how it is “so Charleston” with its images reflecting religion (the “Holy City” with so many church steeples), the city’s rich history represented by the Calhoun monument, and a palmetto tree, which is a state symbol and on the South Carolina flag.

A family email on the Fourth of July sparked a lively debate about today’s civil unrest. There was mention by my brother who also graduated from VCU in Richmond about his disdain for the massive Confederate statues on the city’s Monument Avenue. I took the above photographs in June 2017, aware at that time that they were under fire by critics. 

As someone with interest in the Civil War since childhood I feel differently than my brother. I was always very fond of these Richmond statues seeing them as tributes to militarily respected Confederate Generals Lee, Jackson and Stuart, all proud and loyal Sons of Virginia. 

I really didn’t interpret these and other such monuments around the South as symbols of white supremacy efforts and suppression of African Americans. But that’s the case being made by the throngs of protestors (and my brother) during this inflection point in racial history. Long-held, often ignored (by the white majority) voices are being heard and swift action is being taken, through democratic processes and vigilante aggression as well. 

Charleston’s Marion Square and Richmond’s Monument Avenue have been changed forever. These statues, hopefully, will find new homes in museums. Maybe that is where they always should have been instead of in public squares. That’s a big part of the debate. 

Meantime, occasional opposition to this new “cancel culture” is expressed as was the case 4th of July at Edisto Beach when this red boat and its rebel flag cruised the shoreline a few times. 

Addition (July 10):  In today's "woke" world I find myself troubled and somewhat offended to hear all the talk on the news about Confederates being traitors. So, of course, they should not be honored in any way and all the statues and other memorials must be removed. Calling them traitors is too simplistic and dismissive. It was complicated back then, as it is today.